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UPPER MISSISSIPPI: 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

OF 

THE MOUND-BUILDERS, THE INDIAN TRIBES ; 

AND THE 

Progress of Civilization 

IN THE 

NORTH-WEST ; 

From A.D. 1600 to the Present Time. 



BY GEORGE GALE. 


















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IS87 


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CHICA GO: 








CLARKE AND COMPANY. 






NEW YORK: 








OAKLEY AND MASON. 








1S67. 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, 

By GEORGE GALE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 




WESTERN 

BOOK MANUFACTURING 00., 

CHICAGO. 



PREFACE 



That portion of the United States to which the following pages are 
chiefly devoted, was known to the old French traders and settlers 
as " upper Louisiana," and included the country above the mouth 
of the Ohio river. That region is now generally called in the West 
by the name of the " upper Mississippi." The inhabitants of our 
Atlantic States generally spoke of this territory as "the country 
north-west of the Ohio river," which name they finally abbreviated 
to the " North-west; " and were understood by that name to include 
all the country in the United States extending west from the foot of 
Lake Erie and the Ohio river to the Rocky mountains. 

This region was first explored and occupied by French traders 
and Catholic missionaries from Canada, and was but little known 
to the English until after the surrender of Canada in 1760, by which 
the English became possessed of the French trading-posts; but the 
Pontiac war, which soon followed, implicated many of the French 
traders and missionaries in the conspiracy against the English, and 
led to their expulsion from the country ; and the long wars which 
followed soon after in Europe had the effect to lock up the early 
authentic history of the North-west in the archives of the French 
government. Many of these documents, however, have lately been 
copied, by the permission of the French officials, and published by 
the authority of the legislatures of New York and some other 
States; and valuable information touching this history has thus 
latelv been brought to the knowlege of our inhabitants. But as this 
mass of facts, together with the explorations of the early French 
travelers and missionaries, are not collated and condensed so as to 



IV. PREFACE. 

be of value to the mass of the people, the writer has attentively 
examined these volumes, with the American histories, and the laws 
and documents of the United States and of the several States, and 
thus collected the leading incidents in the history of the north-west; 
to which he has added his own knowledge of events derived from a 
residence in the country of over twenty-six years. 

In handling this mass of facts, the writer has endeavored to group 
together the kindred subjects for perspicuity, and by condensation 
to bring them into as small a compass as practicable, leaving 
mainly to the reader to make his own speculations on the motives 
of the actors, and draw his own philosophical conclusions. In 
this manner he has attempted to bring to light the extinct race 
of people called the "Mound-Builders," locate the north-western 
Indian tribes, and trace their wars with each other, and their con- 
nection with the "French and Indian" wars of the colonies, and 
their wars against the United States ; marking their emigrations, 
and detailing the efforts of the whites to Christianize and civilize 
them; follow the tides of white emigrations, noting the organiza- 
tion of territorial and State governments, and other institutions; 
describe the physical character of the Mississippi, and the great 
lakes, and giving the progress of their navigation and commerce ; 
mark the building of canals, railroads, telegraphs, and other works 
of internal improvement; and give statistics of the general advance- 
ment of civilization. 

While the writer has not taken the space for the citation of 
authorities, he has made a special effort to gather the data from the 
most original and authentic sources. 

It is not supposed that a work of this kind will be likely to beguile 
the devotee of pleasure; but the writer believes that it will be found 
acceptable and useful, not only to the student of history, but the 
statesman and merchant, and a welcome companion in all private 
libraries. With this hope it is presented to the public by 

THE AUTHOR. 

Galesville, Wisconsin, September, 1867. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 
The Mound-Builders n 

CHAPTER II. 
The Indian Tribes, from their discovery to 1755 ... 41 

CHAPTER III. 

The Indian Tribes, from 1755 to the close of the Pontiac war 

in 1764 68 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Indian Tribes, from 1764 to the close of the war with 

Great Britain in 1815 91 

CHAPTER V. 
The Catholic Missions . . - 114 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Protestant Missions 135 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Iroquois, Hurons, Delawares, and Mohegans . . . 159 



VI. CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Illinois Confederacy . 172 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Winnebago Confederacy . . . ■ . . . . 182 

\ 

CHAPTER X. 

The Winnebago Confederacy (concluded) .... 194 

CHAPTER XI. 
Dakota, or Sioux Confederacy 224 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Sioux Massacre 245 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Chippeway Confederacy ... .... 265 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Sacs, Foxes, and Potowatomies; and a table of the popu- 
lation of all the tribes in the United States in 1866 . . 291 

CHAPTER XV. 
The States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan . . 320 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The State of Wisconsin 340 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The States of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Ne- 
braska; and territories of Dakota, Colorado, and Montana, 367 



CONTENTS. 



Vll. 



CHAPTER XVHI. 

The Mississippi, and its Navigation . 



. • 388 



CHAPTER XIX. 
The Great Lakes, and their Navigation 4 J 5 

CHAPTER XX. 
Canals, Railroads, Telegraph Lines, and Commerce . . 433 

Conclusion 449 






THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE MOUND -BUILDERS. 



A poet has mournfully declared that " Greece lies slum- 
bering in the tomb ;" but, from the perpetuity of her works 
of art, the imagination still hears the voice of Pythagoras, 
the founder of Philosophy, arguing his various speculative 
theories ; Herodotus discoursing on the history of Egypt 
and surrounding nations ; Xenophon detailing the exploits 
of Cyrus and the " ten thousand Greeks ;" Plato preaching 
of the " transmigration of souls ;" while Socrates proclaims 
the soul's immortality ; and Homer sings of the beauty of 
Helen, and of the bravery of Hector and of Achilles. 

But to us of the New World, there is a u Greece " that, 
literally, "slumbers in the tomb." A nation or people, 
which for centuries occupied a territory nearly as large as 
all Europe, and had a population which probably numbered 
its millions, have left the graves of their fathers and the 
temples of their gods so unceremoniously, that their very 
name has disappeared with them ; and we only know of 
their existence by their decayed walls and tumuli, and by 
their bones, exhibiting the human form, although in a far- 
gone state of decay. No written language, or hieroglyphic, 
tells us the thoughts of their philosophers, the philippics of 
their orators, the heroic exploits of their warriors, nor of 
the beauty or chastity of their Helens. The rude tempests 
of ages have swept over their country, unmindful of their 
former power, while the dusky savage pursues the chase 



12 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

and the war-path, heedless of the sanctity of the ground on 
which he treads. 

To this lost people the antiquarian has applied the name 
of " The Mound-Builders," as descriptive of an unknown 
people. It is proposed in this chapter to overhaul the relics 
of the Mound-Builders, and present to the reader the facts, 
with observations and deductions, relating to this interest- 
ing and ancient race of people. 

In calculating the extent of the territory of the Mound- 
Builders, we assume that all the territory in the region 
round about the clusters of mounds, was the territory of 
this people, without hazarding an opinion that their territory 
extended any further. They may have occupied extensive 
regions of country where they did not choose to make 
monuments, and there may be extensive regions where 
these monuments exist, but we have as yet no trace or 
record of them. 

It is possible that they may have had the same customs 
of the modern Indian tribes, of carrying their dead to cer- 
tain general localities for interment. The Dakota*, at the 
time of the visit of Captain Carver to that tribe, in 1766, 
had a common burying ground a short distance above St! 
Paul, Minnesota; and at a later day, one instance, at least, 
is known of a Dakota squaw carrying on her back, in a 
blanket, her deceased husband from Lake Pepin to St. Paul, 
a distance of nearly one hundred miles. The same custom 
was prevalent two hundred years since, according to the 
Jesuit missionaries, from the Chippewas of Lake Superior 
to the Abenakis of the Penobscot in Maine. 

So far as explorations now extend, the chief territory of 
the Mound-Builders is the Mississippi Valley, including the 
territory along the Atlantic and Gulf, from North Carolina 
to Texas ; and along the southern shores of the great lakes, 
from the St. Lawrence river, to the Fond du Lac of Lake 
Superior. As these mounds have been found quite nume- 
rous at the Bute Prairies, in Oregon, and along the Gila and 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 



13 



Colorado rivers of California, we may with safety claim 
nearly the whole of the United States and her territories as 
within their jurisdiction. This gave them as fine and rich 
a country of its extent, as the world can produce. 

The chief capital, or seat of this magnificent empire, was 
probably along the valley of the Ohio river, in the State of 
Ohio, judging from the elaborate extent of their works in 
that region. They, like the Iroquois, probably called that 
river the Ohio, or Beautiful river. 

One of the first points for our consideration, in examining 
into the condition of an unknown people, is to ascertain 
their intellectual capacity. Fortunately for us, on this point, 
Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia, has devoted considerable 
attention, and, in his " Crania Americana," has given a 
number of specimens of skulls taken from the mounds, to 
which the writer, in the following table, has added a skull 
taken from a mound in Racine, Wisconsin, as given by Mr. 
Lapham : 

Table of Cranial Development. 



Longitudinal diameter 
Inter-parietal . . . 

Vertical 

Frontal 

Inter-mastoid arch . 

" line 

Occipito-frontal arch 
Horizontal periphery 
Facial angle . . . 
Internal capacity . . 



Grave 
Creek. 


Tenn. 


Racine. 


6.6 in. 


6.6 in. 


6.8 in. 


6. 

5 deg. 


5-6 

4.1 

15.2 


5-3 




4.4 
14. 


i3-8 


78 deg. 


19-5 
80 deg. 
80 inch. 


76 deg. 



Sciota. 



6.5 in. 

6. 

6.2 

4-5 
16. 

4-5 
13-8 
19.8 
81 deg. 
90 inch. 



According to Dr. Morton, the mean internal capacity of 
the skulls of the different races of people are as follows : 
Ethiopian, 18 cubic inches ; Malay, 81 ; American Indians, 
82; Mongolians, 83; Mound-Builders, 85 ; and Caucasian, 87. 

Dr. Morton, from his investigations, came to the conclu- 
sion that there is a great similarity in the cranial develop- 



14 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

ment of the Mound-Builders, the Mexicans, Peruvians, and 
all the modern tribes of Indians, and that they all differ 
materially from the races on the eastern continent. 

As no mummy of the Mound-Builder has been found in 
full, we have no positive information of the form or appear- 
ance of the face and body. The crania gives a moderate 
intellectual development ; the teeth and jaw-bones show 
only a fullness about the mouth : the pipe sculptures repre- 
sent the usual varieties of countenances, with rather a full- 
ness of face, and, occasionally, the Roman nose ; while the 
bones of the body indicate, says Messrs. Squier and Davis, 
" a massiveness, and seem to have been less projecting than 
those pertaining to the skeletons of a later day." 

From a man-shaped mound opened at Galesville, Wiscon- 
sin, in 1860, by Drs. Young and Johnson, and the writer, 
there were obtained pieces of the crushed skull, upper jaw 
and teeth, the left side of the lower jaw and teeth, both 
thigh bones entire, one shin bone, and many others of less 
importance. 

The thiffh bones were eighteen and three-fourths inches in 
length, and three and three-eighths inches in their smallest 
circumference ; and the shin bone was fourteen inches in 
length, and three and one-fourth inches in smallest circum- 
ference. From these measurements they inferred that the 
man was about five feet and ten inches in height, and 
strongly built ; and from the decayed condition of some of 
the teeth, perhaps from fifty to sixty years of age at the 
time of his decease. His skull varied from three-sixteenths 
to one-fourth inch in thickness ; his jaws were round and 
full, but not distorted ; and his teeth were of the usual 
number and variety of the white race. These bones are 
now preserved in the museum of the " Upper Mississippi 
Historical Society " at Galesville. 

That the Mound-Builders were very numerous, can not 
admit of a doubt, from the great extent of their territory 
and the magnitude of their earth-works. In the State of 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 15 

Ohio alone, it has been estimated that there are 10,000 
mounds and 1,500 inclosures. At Bute Prairies, in Oregon, 
according to the narrative of the " United States Exploring 
Expedition," there are " many thousands in number." 

According to the surveys in Wisconsin, there have been 
examined about 100 near Racine, 100 near Milwaukee, about 
100 near Big Bend on the lower Fox river, about 100 at 
Waukesha, about 100 near Fort Atkinson, 100 near Sum- 
mit, 200 near Madison, 100 near Horricon, 100 near May- 
ville, 100 near Bartlett's landing in Vernon county, 100 at 
Prairie du Chien, 200 in La Crosse valley, and large numbers 
in the region of the Blue Mounds, along the Wisconsin river, 
the Fox river of Green bay, and Lake Winnebago. They 
have been noticed along most of the creeks and rivers of 
the State, and new investigations are continually bringing 
them to light. The writer has also noticed nearly 500 in the 
southern part of the county of Trempealeau, which are of 
greater variety than in any other one locality in the State. 
It is safe to say, that probably 10,000 mounds have already 
been noticed in Wisconsin. 

Mr. Lapham, in his "Antiquities of Wisconsin," page 79, 
remarks that "it is believed that no works of any con- 
siderable extent exist above this point (La Crosse) on the 
Mississippi." As large numbers of these works exist at the 
first village above La Crosse, called La Crescent, in Minne- 
sota, only three miles from La Crosse, and in the county 
of Trempealeau, twenty miles above, in Wisconsin, we are 
strongly cautioned against harboring the idea that all the 
works of the Mound-Builders have already been discovered. 
It is probable that nearly all the States and territories in- 
cluded within the empire of the Mound-Builders, on full 
examination, will be found to contain as many works of this 
people as the States of Ohio and Wisconsin. 

Many of these works are of gigantic proportions. The 
mound near Miamisburgh, Montgomery county, Ohio, con- 
tains 311,353 cubic feet; one at the mouth of Grave creek, 



16 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Virginia, is 70 feet high and 1,000 feet in circumference ; one 
at Cahokia, Illinois, is 90 feet high and over 2,000 feet in 
circumference, containing over twenty million cubic feet of 
earth ; while the mound at Selserstown, Mississippi, covers 
an area of six acres. 

The embankment inclosures are also of great extent, and 
some times include four hundred acres of ground. One 
near the Miami river has upwards of four miles of embank- 
ments, and only incloses about one hundred acres. The 
group of works at the mouth of the Sciota river has an 
aggregate of at least twenty miles of embankments, but only 
incloses about two hundred acres. 

In estimating population from the number of earth-works 
for graves, we may be justified in calculating that monu- 
ments were only erected to the men who had distinguished 
themselves among their fellows; for such have been the 
customs of the world. 

In the uEneid, VI., 232, it is said of the tomb of the 
Trojan Hector: 

" On it ^Eneas piously heaped 

A mighty mound sepulchral. The oar, the trumpet, 

Arms of the man, the airy summit crowned." 

The dying Anglo-Saxon poet, Beowulf, enjoins his friends 
to 

" Command the famous in war 
To make a mound, 
Bright after the funereal fire, 
Upon the nose of the promontory, 
Which shall, for a memorial 
To my people, 
Rise high aloft 
On Heonesness; 
That the sea-sailors 
May afterwards call it 
Beowulf's barrow, 
When the Brentings 
Over the darkness of the floods 
Shall sail afar." — Beowulf, V. 5599. 

> 



THE MOUND BUILDEES. 17 

Even our modern Indians occasionally throw together 
piles of stones over some of their distinguished men ; two 
such piles having been observed back of Red Wing, Minne- 
sota; but probably fifty such piles do not exist in the 
Mississippi valley. 

We must further take under consideration the fact, that 
the Mound-Builders had but few of the aids of civilization 
for such works, and must have appropriated a large amount 
of time to prepare their food and clothing, and to seasons 
of relaxation and merriment. We must, also, make allow- 
ance for the sick and indolent, the soldiers, merchants, 
mechanics, priests, and officials, according to the regula- 
tions of semi-barbarous nations. 

From these data, may we not safely estimate that the 
Mound-Builders, in the height of their glory, had as great a 
population within their territory as existed in the same 
territory of the white population in 1850. 

By referring to the census of that year, we find accredited 
to the 

Mississippi valley 8,641,754 

Pacific slope 1*7*271 

Gulf 1,702,992 

Great Lakes, say i>537>9 8 3 

Total, 12,000,000 

It might be urged against this estimate, that we, in 1850, 
had more populous cities within the territory than the 
Mound-Builders ; but that excess might be balanced by the 
large number of Mound-Builders between the Mississippi 
and the Pacific, where, in 1850, the white population was 
comparatively sparse. 

Involved with the question of population, is the fact, 
were the Mound-Builders an agricultural people ? On this 
subject, Mr. Gallatin, of New York, in speaking of the 
mound at Grave creek, remarked: 

" It indicates not only a dense agricultural population, but 
2 * 



18 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

also a state of society essentially different from that of the 
modern race of Indians north of the tropic. 

" There is not, and there was not in the sixteenth century, 
a single tribe of Indians (north of the semi-civilized nations) 
between the Atlantic and the Pacific, which had means of 
subsistence sufficient to enable them to apply, for such pur- 
poses, the unproductive labor necessary for the work ; nor 
was there any in such a social state as to compel the labor 
of the people to be thus applied." 

Egypt is celebrated for her pyramids ; but she was also 
equally celebrated for her dense population, and the extent 
of her granaries. The nomadic tribes of the old world have 
never been celebrated for elaborate monuments, and have 
never lived in walled cities ; while all the nations of the 
East which dwelt in inclosed cities and built elaborate 
works, were agriculturalists. 

The fact that the Mound-Builders built such extensive 
earth-works, is quite conclusive evidence that they were not 
only familiar with digging the earth, but that this was their 
principal employment. 

They were evidently great smokers ; and if they smoked 
tobacco, they probably procured it by cultivation as did the 
modern Indians, who not only cultivated tobacco, but also 
corn, peas, beans, gourds, and melons, when they were first 
discovered by the Europeans. 

Our O-chunk-o-raws, of Wisconsin, who, in 1639, were 
said to be " sedentary and very numerous," when first visited 
by missionaries in 1669, and by Captain Carver in 1766, 
were cultivating tobacco and the other articles heretofore 
enumerated. Indeed, the Indian caches, or deposits of corn, 
are said to have saved our Pilgrim Fathers from starvation 
the first winter that they inhabited the bleak New England 
coast. 

Another evidence that the old Mound-Builders cultivated 
the soil, is derived from the fact that their mound villages 
are found located near or upon the richest tables of land in 



THE MOUIH) BUILDERS. 19 

the country, and near a permanent supply of good water. 
A large proportion of the villages and cities of the Missis- 
sippi valley now occupy the sites of ancient mound cities. 

When this ancient population learned agriculture, be- 
comes a very interesting question, in view of the fact that 
when this country was discovered by Europeans, none of 
the cereals, such as millet, rice, rye, wheat, barley and oats, 
so common on the eastern continent, were known in Amer- 
ica; while the corn, potatoes and tobacco of America were 
equally unknown in Europe, Asia, and Africa. This fact, 
alone, not only argues the great antiquity of the people in 
America, but, in a measure, destroys the hypothesis that the 
Mound-Builders, or the present race of Indians, were the 
" lost ten tribes of Israel," the castaway Phoenicians, or the 
piratical Normans. 

It may not be surprising to us, that some of the customs 
of either the Mound-Builders, or the modern tribes of 
Indians, may be similar to some of the customs of the 
eastern continent, when we take under consideration the fact 
of the common origin of the human race, and the identity 
of the human form and intellect ; but it would surprise us 
that even a semi-educated and semi-civilized people should 
relapse so completely into barbarism as to leave neither 
written manuscript, hieroglyphic, nor sculptured cornice. 
If the American races ever had an ancestry on the eastern 
continent, it is probable that it was anterior to Confucius 
of the Chinese, the Vedas of the Hindoos, the Hieroglyphics 
of the Egyptians, and the Pentateuch of the Hebrews. 

The Mound-Builders were evidently somewhat acquainted 
with commerce, judging from the articles found in the 
mounds. In Ohio we find pearls, sharks' teeth, and marine 
shells from the Gulf and the Atlantic ocean, obsidian from 
Mexico and the Rocky Mountains, native copper and silver 
from Lake Superior, lead from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa 
and Missouri, and syenite and greenstone from northern 
Wisconsin, Alleghany and Rocky Mountains. 



20 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Their system of traveling for the purposes of commerce, 
was probably the same as that of the modern Indians — by 
canoes along the navigable rivers. Since this country has 
become known to the whites, trading fleets of several 
hundred canoes have visited Quebec from the head of Lake 
Superior and from Green Bay; while war parties of the 
Sioux of Mille Lac, have passed two thousand miles down 
the Mississippi, and war parties of the Five Nations, of New 
York, have carried their victorious arms to Mackinaw and 
Lake Superior, and by way of the Ohio river to two hundred 
miles west of the Mississippi. 

To what extent the Mound-Builders may have trafficked 
in corn, tobacco, skins, and clothing, we have no means of 
judging. Nor have we any means of judging of the kind 
of habitation which sheltered the family from the winter's 
cold. It was evidently neither stone, brick or dirt, as no 
remains of such dwellings can be found. They must have 
lived either in tents or wooden tenements, all vestiges of 
which have long since disappeared. 

But while they paid but little attention to their houses, it 
was not uncommon for them to surround what is supposed 
to have been the site of their villages with an earth em- 
bankment, about equivalent to our ditch fences. These 
were often built with three sides only — the fourth side 
being a steep bank of a creek or river. Another style 
was to run a straight embankment across a promontory of 
some high table land. A third style was to make double 
or triple embankments, one within the other. The height 
of these embankments, and their location, forbid the idea 
that they were designed as fortifications ; and while they 
might have been sacred inclosures, it is far more probable 
that they were designed solely as fences to protect them- 
selves either from their herds, or from the droves of buffalo 
which inhabited the Mississippi valley. When the first 
hunter was going down the Wisconsin river to settle at 
Prairie du Chien, in about 1727, he was obliged to stop his 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 21 

canoe several hours to allow a drove of buffalo to ford that 
river. In some instances, in Ohio, these inclosures have 
graded ways, embanked on each side, running to the water. 

In the manufacture of arrow-points, stone axes, spear- 
heads, and some implements of copper, the Mound-Builders 
did not much excel the modern races of Indians, but they 
carried the art of the sculpture of pipes to a high degree of 
perfection. These pipe sculptures are imitations of most 
of the common birds and animals known to the white pion- 
eers of North America ; also, of the human face and head. 
They displayed a fine, modest, pure taste, and close observ- 
ation to natural positions, thereby indicating a people 
considerably advanced in civilization — the savage tastes 
delighting in monstrosities and caricatures, instead of faith- 
ful copies of the original. 

The Mound-Builders were evidently great smokers, and 
probably believed, with the modern tribes, that tobacco was 
a gift of the Great Spirit, by the use of which they might 
receive inspirations from the Deity. It is a remarkable ^ct, 
that all modern tribes of Indians of North America still 
hold the pipe as a sacred emblem of peace ; and when it is 
presented by one party, the fiercest battle must cease until 
the council can be held, and the propositions considered and 
determined. 

When Father Marquette first explored the Mississippi 
from Prairie du Chien to Louisiana in 1673, this sacred 
emblem was at once recognized by every savage nation that 
inhabited its banks or propelled the canoe along its turbid 
waters. These pipes of the Mound-Builders were not made 
of the friable pipe-stone of Minnesota (that locality evi- 
dently then being unknown), but mostly of a very fine 
porphyry of many shades of color. Some varieties are of 
a greenish brown base, with fine white and black granules ; 
others of a light brown base, with % white, purple, and violet- 
tinged specks ; but most are red, with white and purplish 



22 UPPEE MISSISSIPPI. 

grains. Some very much resemble the modern Indian pipe- 
stone in color, but greatly exceed it in hardness. 

As the Mound-Builders evidently were not worshipers of 
idols, they have left us no sculptures of idol deities, or of 
the full form of man. 

It is claimed for the Egyptians, that they became the 
fathers of geometry from the necessity of dividing out to 
the tillers of the soil the overflowed bottoms of the Nile ; 
but the Mound-Builders have exhibited the most exact 
geometrical skill in many of their embankments and inclos- 
ures, without any such necessity. This point was tested by 
actual survey, among others, of the two circle, and one 
square, inclosure at Liberty township, Ross county, Ohio. 
One of these circles was 800 feet in diameter, and the other 
1,700 feet, while the square was exactly 1,080 feet on each 
side. Pythagoras himself could not have struck those circles 
nor made that square, without an actual measurement on 
geometrical principles. The same scientific accuracy runs 
through nearly all their earth-works. At Seal township, in 
Pike county, Ohio, there is an accurate ellipse, and a circle 
with a square embankment inside, the corners touching the 
circle. At Brush creek, Kentucky, there is an hexagonal 
inclosure precisely fifty feet on each of the six sides. The 
same artistic merit, however, has not been displayed in their 
animal effigies ; but their similarity may have been some- 
what disfigured by the washing of rains for a thousand 
years. 

In fortifications for defense, the Mound-Builders have 
exhibited a very respectable degree of military art. In the 
first place, they have judiciously selected commanding posi- 
tions, naturally strong, and easily rendered comparatively 
impregnable to the ancient warlike implements. In the 
second place, they never failed to include within their forti- 
fications a good supply of water, and never allowed the 
contingency to exist that such supply might be cut off by 
an enemy. This precaution might well have been followed 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 23 

by some of the officers in the great rebellion, particularly 
by Colonel Mulligan, at Lexington, Missouri. In the third 
place, all the accessible points were strongly fortified with 
stone walls or embankments, or both ; and the gateways or 
sally-ports were much stronger and more intricate than 
those of modern warfare. These walled inclosures were 
often of considerable extent. The one- near BrowDSville, 
Ross county, Ohio, incloses one hundred and forty acres, 
with a wall and embankment over two and a quarter miles in 
length; and "Fort Ancient," in Warren county, Ohio, has 
a wall and embankment between four and five miles long, 
and in some places twenty feet high. 

The Chillicothe and Cincinnati region of Ohio seems to 
have been the last great stronghold of the Mound-Builders, 
as it is in this region that the most important fortifications 
were made. 

Wisconsin can scarcely dignify any of her old earth- 
works into fortifications. The most important in this State 
is Aztalan. This is a three-sided inclosure, with the open 
side on the bank of the west branch of Rock river, with a 
steep declivity of only fifteen feet to the water. The north 
bank is 631 feet long; the west, 1,419 feet; and the south, 
700 feet ; — the three banks, with that of the creek, inclosing 
seventeen and two-third acres. The walls are about twenty- 
two feet wide on the ground, and vary from one to five feet 
in height. Allow for the action of the rains upon an earth 
wall for several centuries, and we conclude that it originally 
might have been from four to eight feet high, — a respect- 
able fence, but a poor protection against an assaulting 
enemy. 

But what destroys the probability that the Aztalan works 
were a fort, is the fact that it was commanded by a ridge 
on the west side, and the bank on the opposite side of the 
creek, — both within an arrow-shot of the inclosure. 

The Mound-Builders were evidently not a warlike people, 
as we find no instruments for aggressive movements, except 



24 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the ordinary spear, ax, knife, and arrow, which might only 
have been used for hunting purposes. 

It is customary to divide the different ages of Europe 
into the Stone age, the Copper or Bronze age, and the Iron 
age. The oldest, of course, was the Stone age, or the age 
in which the ancients used only stone knives, axes, arrows, 
etc. This division is said to be finely illustrated at an old 
crossing or ford of a river in Ireland, where a good many 
battles had been fought among the ancient natives. On 
digging into the bank of the river, numerous war instru- 
ments of iron were found ; on continuing down they found 
a strata containing instruments of copper ; and still deeper 
they reached the strata where the instruments of war were 
of stone. These deposits had been covered up from time to 
time by the river overflowing its banks, and leaving deposits 
of sand, gravel, and clay, over the carnage of war. As the 
Mound-Builders had no instruments of iron, and but few 
hammered out of native copper, we conclude that they had 
made but little progress in the Copper age, and had not 
learned the art of smelting the ore. 

The most important localities where flint rock was found, 
both by the Mound-Builders and modern Indians, for the 
manufacture of arrow points, spear heads, etc., in the Mis- 
sissippi valley, were " Flint Ridge," in the counties of 
Muskingham and Licking, Ohio, and " Flint Bluffs," or 
" Silver Bluffs," in the western part' of Jackson county, 
Wisconsin. About the hills in all these localities, countless 
numbers of pits, from two to fourteen feet deep, have been 
due:, from which the stone has been taken for manufacture, 
but all of their instruments were not made of flint. There 
have been found in the mounds of Ohio and further south, 
articles worked with skill from limpid crystals of quartz, 
manganesian garnet, and obsidian. 

Messrs. Squier and Davis, in their account of the Ancient 
Monuments of Ohio, state that " The copper and silver 
found in the mounds were doubtless obtained in their native 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 25 

state, and afterwards worked without the intervention of 
fire. The locality from which they were derived, seems 
pretty clearly indicated by the peculiar mechanico-chemical 
combination existing in some specimens between the silver 
and copper, which combination characterizes only the native 
masses of Lake Superior." 

That they may have obtained the metal at that locality is 
very probable, as they left mounds on the bank of the On- 
tonagon river, a very important locality of native copper. 
Occasional specimens of native copper, however, are found 
in the drift through Wisconsin and Illinois ; but they are 
supposed to have come from Lake Superior. 

The Mound-Builders are supposed to have been very 
religious, as well as very superstitious ; but what their 
religion or superstitions were, we do not know. It is im- 
possible at this day to determine the forms of their religion ; 
but it is almost certain that it was not Christian, Hebrew, 
or Pagan. There is, however, a striking similarity between 
their religion and that of the modern Indians, and the re- 
ligion of the ancient Magi of Persia, before the days of 
Zoroaster. 

The Magi worshiped fire, and believed in a good and a bad 
Spirit, and performed their worship on the tops of hills and 
in the open air. They also worshiped the sun, and the 
natural objects on the earth. After the death of Cambyses 
they usurped the Government, but were overthrown, and 
many of the leaders in the rebellion slain. Many of them 
might have emigrated to America. But standing out 
against this hypothesis, is the fact. that they would prob- 
ably have brought with them some of the civilization of 
Persia and Media ; whereas, nothing has ever been found in 
this country. Every hypothesis of an Asiatic emigration 
within the last three thousand years, must answer the 
question, " Where are the letters and the productions of art 
of Asia at that period ?" 

The first class of mounds which writers at this day have 
2* 



26 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

selected as of sacred origin, are the elevated squares or 
truncated pyramids of earth. Several of these occur in an 
inclosure at Marietta, Ohio. The largest one is one hundred 
and eighty-eight feet long by one hundred and thirty-two 
feet wide, and ten feet high. Midway upon each of its four 
sides are graded ascents, twenty-five feet wide and sixty 
feet long, in a right line from the mound. These graded 
ascents were evidently designed to render the mounds easy 
of ascent by processions of the people. Some of this class 
have but one graded ascent, like the great mound at Ca- 
hokie, Illinois, which is seven hundred feet long by five 
hundred feet wide at the base, and ninety feet high, with a 
graded ascent at one end only. The top of the mound lias 
a first and second table. The lowest table on the top is one 
hundred and sixty feet wide, and three hundred and fifty 
feet long ; while the summit or top had a flat table of two 
hundred feet wide by four hundred and fifty feet long. The 
whole mound is estimated as containing twenty millions 
cubic feet of earth. The monks of the order of La Trappe 
have for some time occupied the top of the mound with 
their house and garden. 

In Wisconsin, this class of mounds are much less in size, 
and have only been noticed at three localities : viz., at 
Aztalan, Ontonagon river, and at Trempealeau village. At 
Aztalan there are three of this class, one of which is sixty 
by sixty-five feet level area on the top, with an indistinct 
graded way at the south-east corner. The other two are a 
little less in area. The mound at Trempealeau is about 
seven feet high, with a level surface at the top about 
twenty-five by fifty feet, with graded ways from each of the 
four sides about twenty-five feet long, with the full width 
of the sides. Others may yet be discovered. 

In a circular truncated mound at Portsmouth, Ohio, there 
is a graded way, or terrace, running horizontally round the 
mound, with a spiral pathway from the terrace to the sum- 
mit. Near the town of Franklin, Tennessee, is a circular 




!!__!_ • !■■■■ <\- 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 29 

truncated mound, fifteen feet high, with a graded way to 
the ground only on one side. Several of this kind are found 
in the southern States. Another remarkable mound of this 
class, near Lovedale, Kentucky, is octagonal in form, each 
side measuring 150 feet long, with three graded ways to the 
surrounding soil. Nearly opposite the head of Blanner- 
hassett's island, in Virginia, is a diamond-shaped, truncated 
pyramid, surrounded by a ditch and embankment in the 
form of the ellipse. 

The truncated mounds are very sparse in the north, but 
become more numerous as we approach the Gulf of Mexico. 
At Aztalan, Marietta, and some other places, they are within 
inclosures, but at others they are not. This class of mounds, 
on examination, have yielded no evidence that they were 
burial mounds, but have been regarded as the site for 
temples devoted to the worship of the sun, or some other 
imaginary deity; or, in the opinion of some, as the trocallis 
of the city of Mexico for bloody sacrifices. 

Another very important class of mounds, inclosing sup- 
posed altars, are found in many parts of the west. The 
altar is generally made of clay, but instances occur of stone. 
They are round, elliptical, square, or parallelograms, and 
from two to fifty feet across, although generally from five to 
eight feet. They are .built on the ground, from ten to 
twenty inches high, with a concave or hollow on the top 
like a bowl, and the clay is burned very hard and deep. 
When found, the altar generally contains ashes, calcined 
bones, fragments of pottery, Calcined stone arrow-heads, 
and sometimes discs of copper. Over the whole is raised 
a large mound, with alternating strata of sand and common 
earth. After the altar was constructed, it is supposed that 
human bodies w r ere placed thereon and burned with an 
intense heat, after which the mound is raised over the 
whole. We have no means of judging whether the human 
bodies were placed on the altar when alive or dead, but 
may we not infer that the cavity in the altar was to hold 



30 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the blood, while the calcined arrow-heads were originally 
the arrows shot to take the life of the victims? In 
a mound of this class, at Mound City, Ohio, were found, 
intermixed with much ashes, nearly 200 pipes carved in 
stone, many pearls and shell beads, numerous discs, tubes, 
etc., of copper, and a number of ornaments of copper, 
covered with silver. The pipes were much broken, and 
portions of the copper melted with the intense heat. 

Another mound in Mound City, yielded nothing but a 
large number of plates of mica. Another yielded bones 
with ten bracelets, which had evidently been worn as orna- 
ments on the arms. Another mound had no regular altar, 
but contained more than 2,000 discs of horn-stone or flint, 
each about six inches long, four wide, and about three- 
fourths of an inch thick. They were evidently buried, either 
to secrete them from enemies, or as a magazine for future 
use, or for superstitious purposes ; or possibly to improve 
their quality with a view of manufacturing them into spear 
and arrow-heads. Some of these altars show signs of hav- 
ing been used for a considerable period before they were 
covered with earth. 

That these mounds were not always burial places, is 
evident from the fact that many of them contain no signs 
of human bones. The Mexicans are said to have sought 
for burial places near some altar, or temple, or sacred place 
where sacrifices were made. Among them, burial by fire 
was often practiced. 

In Wisconsin, the writer is not advised that any of the 
altars formed like those of Ohio have yet been found, but 
burnt clay and charred human bones are common. Mr. 
Lapham opened a mound at Aztalan that indicated a series 
of burnings of clay and bones, as though it had been the 
practice to cover each burning with a thin strata of earth, 
and had so continued until the mound reached its present 
height. 

Another class of mounds, which is by far the most 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 31 

numerous in the United States and territories, is the conical 
mounds. These occur, not only within and about the inclos- 
ures of Ohio and other States of the Mississippi valley, but 
in many places, including Minnesota and Oregon, where 
inclosures are not common. They are generally from eight 
to fifty feet in diameter, and from one to twenty feet in 
height, and occasionally of much larger dimensions. Some 
of these conical mounds are found to inclose altars, but are 
regarded generally as simple burial mounds. 

Many of these contain ashes, coals, and charred bones, 
which indicate that it was a common practice to burn the 
bodies on the surface of the ground without the erection of 
an altar. Others, and by far the greater number, contain 
either bones in a far-gone state of decay, or more generally 
the ashy appearance or deposit of bones already decayed. 
These conical mounds occasionally contain arrow and spear 
heads, and pottery, but more generally are entirely destitute 
of articles manufactured. The state of preservation of the 
bones in the mounds, depends mainly on the amount of clay 
used in the construction of the mounds — a compact clay 
preserving them for a long period, while in a loose, porous 
soil, they decay in a short time. 

Another very important class of mounds are called " ani- 
mal mounds," or " effigies of animals," the chief locality of 
which, according to present discoveries, is Wisconsin, al- 
though a few of marked character have been noticed in 
Ohio and Michigan. 

One of the most important of this class in Ohio, is "The 
Serpent," in Adams county. It is on a point of a ridge at 
"Three Forks," on Brush creek, 150 feet above the creek. 
" The Serpent's " head is near the point of the ridge, and 
extends in graceful undulations and curves along the summit 
of the ridge for 700 feet, terminating with a triple coil of 
the tail, the extreme length being about 1,000 feet. The 
mouth is open, evidently attempting to swallow an egg, or 
oval figure, within its distended jaws. The egg, or oval 



32 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

figure, is an embankment four feet high, 160 feet long, and 
eighty feet in its greatest diameter. The embankment 
representing the serpent is five feet high and thirty feet 
wide at its base, near the center, and diminishes a trifle 
towards its head and tail. 

"The Serpent " entered into the religious superstitions 
of nearly all the old nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
The Vedas of the Hindoo represents that the earth is 
placed on an enormous snake with 100 heads, and that 
when the snake shakes one of its heads it produces an earth- 
quake. The great temple of Abury, in England, was built 
in the form of a serpent by the ancient Celts. The snake 
also entered into the religious ceremonies of the Mexicans. 
Even the modern Winnebagoes and Dakotas apply to the 
snake the word Wakon, or Spirit, and hold it sacred. 

" The Alligator," in Licking county, Ohio, near Granville, 
is another interesting effigy. Its extreme length is two 
hundred and fifty feet ; the breadth of the body, forty feet ; 
the length of its legs, each, thirty-six feet ; and its height 
from four to six feet. At the right of the effigy is a circular 
elevation, covered with stones much burned, with a graded 
way ten feet wide, from the body to the supj^osed altar of 
stones. Excavations have been made in the " Alligator," 
but nothing has been discovered, except stones and a fine 
clay used in building the effigy. The ancient Egyptians 
held the alligator as sacred. 

The effigies of men, animals, and inanimate things, are 
very numerous throughout Wisconsin. The men mounds 
are sometimes with legs, but more numerously without 
them. 

Of the former class, effigies have been noticed at Mil- 
waukee, Waukesha, Ripley lake, Sec. 26 T. 12 R. 16 E, 
Utica, Sec. 35 T. 9 R. 4, One-Mile creek (Adams county,) 
Mauston, and at Galesville. Effigies of men with legs occur 
at Sec. 19 T. 9 R. 6 E., Honey Creek mills, Sec. 9 T. 16 
R. 2 W., seven miles E., Blue mounds, Muscoda, and Sec. 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 33 

35 T. 9 R. 1 W. These latter mounds are represented with 
legs down about to the knees. 

Mr. Win. H. Canfield, near Baraboo, in Sauk county, 
Wisconsin, has surveyed a mound at that place of an effigy 
of a full-length man, the first one yet discovered. The 
whole figure is two hundred and fourteen feet in length ; 
the head thirty feet long, the body one hundred, and the 
legs eighty-four. The top of the head is nearly crescent 
shaped, giving the effigy a ghostly and unnatural appear- 
ance. Some of the other effigies represent the head as split 
open on top, each half of which has fallen part way to the 
shoulders. All of these effigies of men are evidently de- 
signed to represent some spiritual existences, taught by their 
religious superstitions. 

Another class of mounds are the effigies of birds. These 
are mainly distinguished from, the man-shaped mounds by 
the representation of a bill to the head ; the body and wings 
corresponding with the body and arms of the man. These 
bird-shaped mounds occur at Waukesha, Honey creek, Sec. 
3 T. 10 R. 7 E., Sec. 5 T. 10 R. 7 E., Sec. 6 T. 8 R. 5 W., 
English Prairie, in Iowa county, and Sec. 16 T. 8 R. 1 W. 
They are only about as numerous as the man-shaped mounds. 
There is no attempt in these effigies to represent any par- 
ticular species of the bird that we can recognize, although 
they differ in their outlines, and in the imagination of the 
Mound-Builders they may have represented different birds. 

Another quite numerous class are- what Mr. Lapham de- 
nominates the " Turtle Mounds," which occur very numer- 
ously in the south-eastern part of Wisconsin. One figured 
by him at Waukesha has an extreme length of one hundred 
and seventy-six feet, of which one hundred and thirty feet 
belongs to the tail. If turtles in the days of the Mound- 
Builders had tails of this capacity, they must have wonder- 
fully deteriorated in their tailships at the present day. It 
might have been intended to represent the lizard, but it 
comes much nearer the tadpole or polliwog, at that state of 
3 



34 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

its existence when it begins to develop the feet. The 
peculiar development of the tadpole might well have at- 
tracted the attention of these superstitious people. 

Well delineated turtles of the modern day are repre- 
sented by mounds south-west of Galesville, in which the 
tail is represented as not much larger than the head and 
neck. These turtle mounds are about thirty-six feet long 
from the end of the nose to the end of the tail, and twenty- 
seven feet between the fore feet. 

Near these turtle mounds is an effigy of a frog, nine yards 
long; nine yards between the ends of the fore feet, and 
eleven yards between the ends of the hind feet. He was 
probably of the bull-frog species. But the animal effigies 
are too numerous for the writer's limits to describe, and he 
will only remark, that at Galesville there are effigies of man, 
and of the frog, turtle, deer, bear, and perhaps the buffalo, 
the most numerous of which are the deer. Near Honey 
creek, in Sec. 1 9 T. 9 R. 6, are the bear and buffalo ; at 
Mayville, the fox and beaver; at Horricon, the otter; at 
Ripley lake, the serpent. At these places and many others 
there are a great variety of effigies, probably intended to 
represent the different kinds of animals known to the 
Mound-Builders ; many of which, however, may have been 
entirely imaginary, but among which the worm is con- 
spicuous. 

What object the Mound-Builders had in the laborious 
"erection of these numerous effigies, of course we can only 
conjecture. Some have supposed that they were intended 
to represent the totem or town to which the deceased be- 
longed, since many of the tribes of the present day use the 
pictures of animals to represent the tribe, as the English use 
the coat of arms to represent the family. This is based on 
two suppositions, entirely without evidence : first, that the 
Mound-Builders used totems, like the modern Indians ; and, 
secondly, that, unlike the modern Indians, they raised 
mounds to represent their totems. 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 



35 



The second suggestion is, that they had names like the 
modern Indians; as, Black Hawk, White Bear, Buffalo, 
etc., and that their burial mounds were in imitation of the 
animal whose name they bore. But those suggestions are 
not only based on two suppositions, like the previous, with- 
out evidence, but ignore the fact that many modern Indians 
have names that can not be represented by an animal; 
such as, Sleepy Eyes, Whirling Thunder, IIole-in-the-Day, 
Clear Sky, Screamer, etc. According to that, such chiefs 
must go without honor to the next world ; or, like the 
poisoned sailor, he must be buried without a funeral, be- 
cause the church had no prayers for such a case of death. 

May we not with far more probability infer, that these 
animal effigies were connected with the religious supersti- 
tions of the race, and that, as most heathen nations believe 
in the transmigration of souls to animals, these effigies may 
have been designed to perpetuate the name of the animal 
that the priest or relatives had directed the departed soul to 
enter. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls was, 
among many others, taught by Pythagoras and Plato, and 
has been illustrated by the poet Dry den in the following : 

" In life's next scene of transmigration be, 
Some bear or lion is reserved for thee." 

Thus, the reader's attention has been called to some of 
the principal facts connected with the life and death of the 
Mound-Builders ; but volumes will not exhaust the subject, 
nor generations perfect their history. Much will yet be 
learned, as new discoveries are made, and the mounds fur- 
ther examined in the progress of civilization. 

By evidence satisfactory to the human mind, we know 
that they lived in great numbers throughout a vast region, 
labored, sported, loved, were given in marriage, begat 
children, nurtured them with parental care, worshiped, and 
died, and that their friends built monuments to their 
memory. 



36 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

To the infidel, alas ! this is all there is of man, but to the 
Christian there yet remains the Upper Sanctuary, the glories 
of which are not modified by the sorrows of humanity, and 
where the intellectual soul will grow in knowledge, as the 
child does in stature. 

The origin of the Mound-Builders can only be the subject 
of speculation. Dr. Morton says, " That the study of physi- 
cal conformation alone, excludes every branch of the Cau- 
casian race from any obvious participation in the peopling 
of this continent ;" but Dr. Morton goes farther, and de- 
clares, " that the organic characters of the people them- 
selves, through all the endless ramifications of tribes or 
nations, prove them to belong to one and the same race, and 
that this race is distinct from all others." This conclusion 
is reached by the doctor in the examination of the skulls 
from different parts of the world, and is very sweeping, 
when we take under consideration the fact that no two skulls 
ever examined, agreed with each other in every particular. 

But the arguments of Dr. Morton at least tend to show 
the great antiquity of the American race ; and with the fact 
that neither the Mound-Builders nor the present Indian race 
have had the religious ceremonies of any of the Asiatics, 
Europeans, or Africans, to our knowledge, nor an acquaint- 
ance with any written language, we may well infer that they 
did not have their origin from the eastern continent since the 
knowledge of letters, or since the present religious cere- 
monies were established. Another similar argument exists 
in the want of identity of their language with that of any of 
the known languages of the eastern continent. 

The age of trees growing on the mounds has been ex- 
amined, and nearly 1,000 years into antiquity have been 
reached ; but the mounds, or at least some of them, were 
then standing. 

The time at which the Mound-Builders abandoned this 
country, or were exterminated by war, is entirely lost, and 
gone beyond our reach. 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 37 

It is conceded that the modern Indian tribes have no tra- 
ditions of the Mound-Builders or of the mounds. It is true 
that David Cusie, an educated Tuscarora, in 1825, compiled 
the traditions of the Iroquois, or six nations, in which he 
claimed that the Iroquois had fought an ancient people, 
probably the Mound-Builders, for several hundred years, 
and finally exterminated them. Mr. Galletin, however, not 
only pronounces the tradition fabulous, but a closer investi- 
gation into the tradition proves that it more probably relates 
to the Kah-Kicah, or Eries, which they conquered in 1655. 

The Delawares had also, in 1819, come in for ancient 
lame ; and as related to Mr. Heckewelder, their Moravian 
missionary, had a tradition claiming that when the Dela- 
wares removed east of the Mississippi, they found a people 
who called themselves the Allegewi, and who had fortifica- 
tions which were of gigantic height. The Delawares called 
to their aid the Iroquois, who, they said, then lived on the 
Mississippi, and after a long war, conquered and drove the 
Allegewi down the Mississippi. General Cass, who was 
personally acquainted with the missionary, at once classed 
the tradition as a humbug, got up to excite the gullibility of 
their missionary, a business in which the Indians are known 
to be adepts. In this class may be placed the tradition by 
" De-coo-dah? of the Winnebagoes, as related by Mr. 
William Pidgeon. 

This tradition is, in effect, denied by the Iroquois, as they 
claim that they were created in New York, and never lived 
on the Mississippi, and have no tradition of any league with 
the Delawares. The latter tribe may have assisted the 
Iroquois in driving the Akansea down the Mississippi about 
1661. 

The traditions of the Aztecs, the ancient people of Mexico, 
are supposed to give some light on the question of " What 
became of the Mound-Builders ?" By those traditions they 
claim, that about 1160, they left their town in the north, 
called Aztalan, or place near the large water, and journeyed 



38 UPPER -MISSISSIPPI. 

south for one hundred and sixty-five years, when they 
descried " an eagle grasping in its claws a writhing ser- 
pent, and resting on a cactus which sprung from a rock in 
the Lake Tescoco." " This had been designated by the 
Aztec oracles as the spot where the tribe should settle." 
This was the foundation of the city of Mexico. 

Mr. Humboldt, who examined critically the traditions of 
the Mexicans, has declared that none of their traditions, 
running back 100 years before their conquest by the Spanish 
in 1520, are entitled to serious consideration. The same 
may be said of Indian traditions generally. Mr. Bartlett, 
who was at the head of the United States boundary com- 
mission, and gave much attention to the subject, says : "I 
have been unable to learn from what source the prevailing 
idea has arisen, of the migration of the Aztecs from the 
north into the valley of Mexico. The traditions which gave 
rise to this notion are extremely vague, and were not seri- 
ously entertained until Torquemada, Borturini, and Clavi- 
gero, gave them currency. But they must now give way to 
the more reliable results of linguistic comparison. No 
analogy has yet been traced between the language of the 
old Mexicans and any tribe at the north in the district from 
which they are supposed to have come ; nor in any relics, 
ornaments, or works of art, do we observe a resemblance 
between them." 

We notice among the speculations of infidel minds, a 
great readiness to turn these doubtful questions into positive 
arguments against the scriptural origin of mankind; but 
they appear to ignore the fact that, throughout the whole 
world, man has the same general form of body, organs of 
speech, and identity of mind, and however much either may 
be modified by education or locality, no nation has been 
found lacking any one of these prerequisites of man. While 
the African may have a head, and the Esquimaux a body, 
below the average size, we should remember that as great a 
difference often occurs in a single family ; and he who argues 



THE MOUND BUILDERS. 39 

that man originated from the monkey, only thereby makes 
a monkey of himself. The identity of the present Indians 
of the north-west with the inhabitants of eastern Asia, has 
been strongly urged to the writer by an eminent Presbyte- 
rian divine who has spent several years as a missionary in 
China, and among the Chinese in California. 

Independent of tradition or of language, there is a strong 
impression on the minds of antiquarian travelers, of the 
identity of the Mexicans with the Mound-Builders, created 
by the supposed similarity of their customs and worship ; 
and this impression is increased by the belief that the con- 
quering nations were from the north-west, and that the 
fugitives naturally would have retreated south. Upon that 
hypothesis, it is a strong supposition that the Mobilian race 
along the Gulf of Mexico were the conquerors ; and, as they 
must have incorporated some of the Mound-Builders into 
their nations, it might be expected that they would retain 
some of their civilization. This would, in part, account for 
a higher civilization, which in fact did exist in that warlike 
race, when visited by De Soto in 1540. But a doubt is raised 
to the whole of that hypothesis, as the center of the Mound- 
Builders' territory was held by the Winnebago Confederacy 
when first known to the whites, which Confederacy extended 
from Lake Superior to Arkansas river, and occupied the 
lower Ohio and Missouri rivers, and the territory west nearly 
to New Mexico ; and if the Mobilians conquered the Mound- 
Builders, they were in turn driven south by the Winnebago 
Confederacy. In looking further, we find the latter Confed- 
eracy again being pressed south by the Dakotas, who 
extended from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains. 
Beyond all these, come the great Algonquin nations, ex- 
tending from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and 
north to the frozen ocean, including the Esquimaux, and 
were probably as ancient a people on the continent as the 
Mound-Builders themselves. This antiquity of the Algon- 
quin nations not only make them cotemporary with the 



40 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Mound-Builders, but will account for the non-discovery of 
mounds in the north, except along the south edge of their 
territory. 

But there is even a possibility that the Mound-Builders 
were converted to a new religion, as was the Pagan Roman 
Empire in the days of Constantine, and thereby not only 
abandoned their superstitions of building tumuli, but be- 
came more nomadic and warlike. At some time a similar 
change must have occurred on the eastern continent, for 
they, too, have their tumuli at places, from England to the 
Indian ocean ; but why the custom was abandoned, belongs 
to the unlettered ages of their people. Had there been a 
change of religion, a period of less than 1,000 years would 
probably have erased from their traditions every trace of 
the old superstition. But these speculations are all unsatis- 
factory, and we can only conclude that Deity filled, with 
that populous nation, some important niche in the great 
temple of humanity. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE INDIAN TRIBES, FROM THEIR DISCOVERY TO 1755. 

Passing from the Mound-Builders across an indefinite 
period, variously estimated at from 500 to 2,000 years, to 
the time when America became known to the Europeans, 
we find the whole continent peopled with numerous tribes, 
speaking different languages, but identical in complexion 
and physical construction, although evidently less civilized, 
and more warlike than their predecessors, the Mound- 
Builders. 

The uniformity in the physical appearance of the present 
race will convey the idea that they are the legitimate des- 
cendants of the Mound-Builders; but this hypothesis is 
nearly destroyed by the radical difference in many of the 
tribal languages, and the total absence of the custom of 
building mounds. Although less civilized than the Mound- 
Builders, yet they were not totally deficient in this particular, 
but still understood the art of building fortifications, the 
cultivation of corn, tobacco, beans, peas and pumpkins, and 
the construction of stone knives, axes, arrow and spear- 
heads, and bows, arrows and spears ; and were experts in 
hunting, fishing, and war. They even possessed considera- 
ble judgment in medicine, government, and hieroglyphic al 
writing. Indeed, they were but little below the Celts of 
the British islands at the time of the invasion by Julius 
Cresar, and nearly resembled, in their Avarlike customs, par- 
ticularly in taking scalps, the ancient Scythians of European 
3* 



42 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Turkey. Following the explorations from Columbus, and 
including the first settlements of the Atlantic coast in North 
America, by the French, English, Dutch and Spanish, we 
gather the data that at that period the people of the region 
of country north of the Giilf of Mexico and east of the 
Rocky Mountains, may be classified by their languages 
nearly as follows : 

1. The Algonquin, or Ojibwa Confederacy, occupied all 
the country to the frozen regions north of a line commenc- 
ing near Cape Fear on the Atlantic, thence extending 
westerly to the mouth of the Illinois river, thence along that 
river, and by way of Lake Michigan, Falls of St. Mary, 
Lake Superior, and rivers and portages to the Lake of the 
"Woods, and thence westerly to the Rocky mountains. 

2. The Mobilian, or Cherokee Confederacy, occupying 
the country south of the line running westerly from Cape 
Fear to the north line of Tennessee, thence west to the 
Mississippi, thence by the Mississippi, Arkansas and Cana- 
dian rivers, to the Rocky mountains. 

3. The O-chunk-o-raw, or Winnebago Confederacy, ex- 
tending from Lake Superior to the Arkansas river, including 
the Wisconsin river and lower Ohio, and extending west to 
the Rocky mountains. 

4. The Dakota, or Sioux Confederacy, extending west to 
the Rocky mountains from a line running from Kewenaw 
bay to the north-eastern corner of the present State of 
Iowa. 

These lines between the different Confederacies must be 
understood as only approximating to correctness, as Indian 
boundaries were never well defined. 

Nearly in this position, the Europeans found the territory 
of the Mound-Builders east of the Rocky mountains divided 
among four great Confederacies, all speaking radically dif- 
ferent languages, but otherwise differing but little in man- 
ners, customs, religion, complexion, or physical construction ; 
and all, like the Mound-Builders, but unlike the Europeans, 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 43 

used the pipe and tobacco. From whence came these 
Aborigines, has been the constant speculation of our ances- 
tors in America ; but every theory has failed before the 
light of investigation, and we only know that they have 
long resided in this country, and have a slight resemblance 
to the north-eastern Asiatics. 

These confederacies were not generally confederacies of 
government, for they were divided up into a multitude of 
independent bands or tribes, often with no traditions of re- 
lationship, and in open war with each other, and even un- 
able to speak each other's dialects of the same language. 
As the Indians had no written language, these dialects were 
rapidly formed in independent bands, and the obscurity of 
the dialect was in the ratio of the time that any particular 
band had been separated from the parent tribe. The same 
change, but with far less rapidity, exists in written languages, 
and the Greek of Athens and the Latin of Rome to-day, 
would have been barbarian to Demosthenes and Cicero. 

The prominent tribes of the Algonquin Confederacy, 
which became distinguished in the early annals of New 
York, New England, and Canada, were the Mohegans of 
Massachusetts, Abenakis of Maine, Iroquois of New York, 
Delawares of Pennsylvania, Algonquins of Quebec, Hurons 
from Montreal to Lake Huron, Ottawas of the Georgian 
bay, Mascotens of Detroit, Miamies of the Wabash, Sacs 
and Foxes and Pottowatomies of Saginaw bay and Lake 
Michigan, Chippeways of the Falls of St. Mary, and Chris- 
tinaux of Hudson's bay. 

When the navigator, Samuel Champlain, founded Quebec 
in 1608, he ascertained that the Algonquin tribe at Quebec 
was at war with the tribes of New York ; and believing that 
it was necessary to live in harmony with his immediate 
neighbors, entered into an alliance with them, offensive and 
defensive. Pursuant to such alliance, he led a war party 
of the Algonquins against the Iroquois in July, 1809, and on 
the 30th of the same month attacked a war party of 200 



44 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Iroquois at a cape near Ticonderoga, on the west side of 
Lake Champlain, and put tliem to flight. The honors gained 
in this victory with fire-arms over bows and arrows, was of 
little account ; but in the progress of civilization it marked 
an important period, as the campaign discovered a new 
lake, to which Champlain attached his own name, and inau- 
gurated a war that was only permanently terminated by the 
surrender of Canada to the English, one hundred and fifty- 
one years afterwards. The war which Champlain volunta- 
rily assumed in 1609, became a necessity the following year, 
for a considerable war party of the Iroquois invaded 
Canada, seeking revenge for their misfortunes of the pre- 
vious year. 

Champlain, by presents, and the terror produced by his 
fire-arms, succeeded in winning over to the side of the 
Algonquins, the Hurons, who were kindred of the Iroquois, 
and engaged them to join him in the war against their 
brethren. Thus strengthened, he attacked the war party of 
the Iroquois, who had hastily fortified themselves on the St. 
Johns river, and totally defeated them, even before the 
arrival of his 200 Huron allies. 

This defeat, together with the defection of the Hurons, 
seems to have struck the Iroquois with terror, and it was 
probably under these circumstances that the five Iroquois 
bands formed themselves into a confederacy, offensive and 
defensive, which made them so powerful in subsequent 
years. They were also greatly exasperated at the Hurons, 
who had thus voluntarily abandoned them, and had gone 
over to their enemies, and ever afterwards held against them 
the spirit of revenge. Profiting by their experience, the 
Iroquois fortified their villages against fire-arms, and pre- 
pared for the war with the judgment of more civilized 
nations. The northern allies, impatient for new victories, 
and having been attacked by war parties north of Lake 
Ontario, induced Champlain to head another war party in 
1615. This party was organized at the east end of the 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 45 

Georgian bay, which point Champlain reached by way of 
the Ottawa river and Lake Nipissing, on the first day of 
August. On the first day of September the allied forces 
started on their expedition. They passed through Lake 
Shncoe, made a portage to the head waters of the Trent 
river, which stream they passed down, and discovered Lake 
Ontario. This country was found destitute of inhabitants, 
they having lately been driven back by war parties of the 
Iroquois. Crossing at the foot of Lake Ontario, Champlain 
hid his canoes, and journeyed by land five days in a south- 
erly direction, and on the 10th of October reached the 
Iroquois fort, near a considerable lake, supposed to be 
Cayuga. This fort the allied forces besieged until the 16th 
of the same month, when Champlain, having been twice 
wounded, and many of his allies killed and wounded, the 
Indians refused to continue the siege, and the allies retreated. 
Champlain returned to the Georgian bay, where he was 
forced to remain until spring, on account of the ice, and 
only reached Quebec the following year, apparently dis- 
gusted with his Indian war. 

In 1629 the English took possession of Quebec, and 
carried Champlain to England; and for three years the 
Indians were left free from French intrigue to settle their 
own difficulties. The Iroquois, taking advantage of the 
absence of their new French enemies, mustered their war- 
riors, and marched into the Huron country. The Hurons 
gathered together their allies, and fought a great battle, 
some where between Lakes Ontario and Huron, and were 
defeated. They then sued for peace, which was granted, 
and the Hurons and Iroquois were again united and the 
tomahawk buried ; and when the French returned to Canada 
in 1632, the Hurons and Algonquins positively refused to 
renew the war, or permit the Jesuit priests to establish a 
mission on Lake Huron. The French brought to bear 
upon the untutored savages all their arts in diplomacy, and 



4G UPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 

in 1634 finally obtained leave for their priests to renew the 
mission to Lake Huron. 

The Iroquois continued to regard the French as their 
enemies, and a kind of semi-war existed for some years, 
until finally, in 1648, the pent-up volcano broke forth, and 
the powerful war parties of the Iroquois, fully armed with 
fire-arms obtained from the Dutch, swept the whole Huron 
country, and both shores of Lake Huron. The allied tribes, 
in great numbers, rallied and fortified the Island of Mack- 
inaw, where, in about 1652, they were again attacked by 
about 3,000 Iroquois warriors, and totally defeated. A 
remnant of the Ottawas and Chippeways took shelter in the 
dark pine forests of Lake Superior, while the Sacs and 
Foxes, and the Mascotens and Miamies, and their kindred 
the Kickapoos, planted themselves on the territory of the 
Winnebagoes, along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and a 
fragment of the Hurons passed across the State of Wiscon- 
sin, and obtained a resting place on the Iowa river, on the 
borders of the territory of the Dakotas. A small number of 
the Christian Hurons, with their surviving priests, escaped 
their enemies, and formed a village below Quebec. The 
larger portion of the Huron nation were either killed or 
taken prisoners and adopted into the families of the Iroquois, 
where they were afterwards recognized by their Catholic 
priests. 

The Erie, or Cat bands of the Huron-Iroquois nation, 
living along both shores of the Niagara river, and the south- 
eastern shore of Lake Erie, called by the Iroquois the Kah- 
JTwah, positively refused to join their brethren in that fra- 
tricidal war, and continued neutral ; but when the Hurons 
had finally been expelled the country, the neutrals were 
charged by the Iroquois with giving protection to their 
enemies, and failing to render satisfaction, they too were 
attacked, and after a severe struggle of three years, were, 
in the fall of 1655, finally defeated, and shared the same fate 
as their brothers the Hurons, except no remnants of the 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 49 

tribe have ever since been heard of, that were not prisoners 
in the hands of their captors. The French are supposed to 
have originated this war, as their priests urged its vigorous 
prosecution early in 1655. 

Suggestions have been made by some authors that the 
Shawnees, who were afterwards driven from the Ohio to 
Tennessee, might have been a remnant of the Eries ; but 
that hypothesis is destroyed by the fact that the Shawnees 
spoke a dialect of the Miami- Algonquin, while the Eries 
spoke the dialect of the Huron-Iroquois. 

It is not, however, probable that a nation numbering in 
1625 nearly 15,000, were so nearly annihilated; and we 
may reasonably suppose that hundreds of them fled to 
friendly tribes in the west, where they became merged and 
lost sight of in a single generation. The same suggestion 
might be made with force with reference to the Hurons, 
who were also very numerous before the war. 

After the defeat of the Eries, war parties of the Iroquois 
sought their old enemies in their hiding places in Wiscon- 
sin, and in 1660, one of these parties became involved in 
difficulties with the Indians of Illinois, and a furious war 
followed ; and in the short period of two or three years, by 
the potency of fire-arms obtained from the Dutch, the fierce 
Iroquois drove a bleeding remnant of the Shawnees of 
Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio back upon the Ten- - 
nessee river ; the tall Arkansea, of the lower Ohio valley, 
down the Mississippi to Arkansas river ; the powerful Illi- 
nois, west of the Mississippi ; and the Mascotens, Kickapoo 
and Miamies, to the Wisconsin river. This fierce war was 
short, as the Iroquois in the mean time became involved, 
probably by French intrigue, in a war with their powerful 
neighbors, the Mohegans and Delawares. This latter war 
commenced probably about 1664, and the French claimed 
in 1680 that the Iroquois had nearly annihilated the Andas- 
tognes and Mohegans. We know that the Delawares, in 
1675, were driven by the Iroquois south upon the lower 
4 



50 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Potomac, where they committed some depredations upon 
the white settlers in Maryland and Virginia, and that six of 
their chiefs visited Captain Washington, the great-grand- 
father of General Washington, who was captain in the 
Militia of Virginia, to settle the difficulties, and Captain 
Washington murdered the whole of them; whereupon the 
Governor of Virginia reprimanded him, by saying that he 
would not have murdered them, under the circumstances, 
if " they had killed his own father and mother." This act 
of barbarity of Captain Washington was revenged by the 
Indians, when the Militia of Maryland and Virginia attacked 
the Delawares, and drove them back upon the Iroquois. 
The Delawares then sued for and negotiated a peace with 
their northern conquerors. By the traditions of both tribes, 
it is said that, at the conclusion of a peace between them, 
after a long war, which was probably the aforesaid treaty, 
the Iroquois prescribed as the terms of the peace, that the 
Delawares should take the condition of squaws, and not go 
to war without the consent of their conquerors, which the 
latter tribe agreed to, and were only restored to the condi- 
tion of warriors by Colonel Johnson, the Indian agent in 
New York, in 1756. 

The bold and warlike Iroquois, however, did not neglect 
their old enemies the French in the midst of their compli- 
cated warfare, but repeatedly sent their war parties to 
harrass them, and compelled them to keep constantly forti- 
fied. A record of about 1651 said: "Hardly do those 
savages let us pass a day without alarms. They are ever 
at our skirts ; no month passes that our bills of mortality do 
not show, in lines of blood, indications of the deadly nature 
of their inroads." The Jesuit Relations of 1653, speaking 
on this subject, said : " The war with the Iroquois has 
dried up all sources of prosperity. . . . Crowds of 
Hurons no longer descend from their country with furs for 
trade. The Algonquin country is dispeopled ; and the na- 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 51 

tions beyond it are retiring further away still, fearing the 
musketry of the Iroquois." 

In these exigencies, the Canadians asked France for help, 
and in 1653 received a considerable reinforcement of picked 
colonists, under the prestige of which they made a treaty of 
peace with the four western bands of the Iroquois the fol- 
lowing year, but the Mohawks refused to join. Under this 
treaty, in 1656, the French sent Captain Dupuis with fifty 
men, and established a fort among the Onondagas, but this 
excited the alarm of this band. Forewarned of their danger 
by a dying Indian, the French fled from the country. The 
Mohawks followed with four hundred warriors, but failed to 
overtake the fugitives. They, however, passed beyond 
Quebec, and captured ninety of the Hurons on the Island 
of Orleans. Wars and alarms followed, and in the fall of 
1658 the Governor of Canada represented to France that if 
" succor were not accorded, Canada would be irretrievably 
lost to France," and demanded 3,000 regular troops or six 
hundred colonists. 

During this period the French repeatedly attempted to 
break up the Iroquois Confederacy, by negotiating a peace 
with the separate bands, and involve them in a new civil 
war, but all these efforts were defeated by the confederacy. 
In 1662 the Governor again applied to France for help, and 
obtained 400 soldiers. The following year 165 colonists 
were received. The whole subject finally came under dis- 
cussion by the French ministry, and in May, 1664, the gov- 
ernment of Canada was turned over to the " West India 
Company" by a royal edict, and Marquis de Tracy ap- 
pointed viceroy over all New France. He landed at Quebec 
in June of the following year, with four companies of 
t. oops ; and twenty companies more, with many colonists, 
followed by December. He immediately set himself to 
fortifying the country, and during the following winter sent 
an army into the Mohawk country, which found the Indian 
country nearly deserted, but succeeded in burning the Indian 



52 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

cabins and corn. With this display of force, and by nego- 
tiations, a peace was concluded in the summer of 1666 with 
the whole Iroquois Confederacy, which lasted nearly eight- 
een years, and was hailed with great joy by the whole of 
New France. 

We have thus seen that the inauguration of the plan to 
disregard the rights of the Indians, and make them sub- 
servient to the interests of the whites, by the French of 
Canada, nearly ruined their early attempts to establish an 
empire in the new world, and added new proof that the 
great law of justice could not be trifled with, even against 
the American " savages ;" but it took more than a century 
for our ancestors to become convinced of its truth. Mas- 
sachusetts, however, learned it in King Phillip's war ; and 
the Dutch of New Amsterdam learned it after the massacres 
of the Indians by the orders of Director Keift ; while the 
pious Quakers of Pennsylvania proved the truth of the 
proposition, by practicing "good faith and good will" to 
the warlike Delawares, for not a drop of Quaker blood was 
ever shed by that nation. 

Soon after the close of the Iroquois war in the north-west, 
the Knisteneux, or Christenaux, a powerful Algonquin na- 
tion to the south of Hudson's bay, having obtained fire-arms 
from the English traders at that bay, and being probably 
joined by many of the fugitives from Canada who had 
escaped into that country, commenced a war on the Dakotas 
of the upper Mississippi. This war in 1671 became general 
all along the line of the Algonquin nations on the east, who 
had taken possession of Dakota territory, as far south as the 
Wisconsin river. In the spring of that year the chivalrous 
Dakotas returned to the Jesuit missionaries at the head of 
Lake Superior the presents they had received from them, 
and notified the eight fugitive nations at that point, whom 
the missionaries declared were the aggressors, to leave the 
country, and soon followed up the notice with fierce war 
parties, who speedily swept the whole Lake Superior 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 53 

region of their new enemies. These bands of warriors, 
however, still respected the territory of the Ha-ha-ton-wa, 
or dwellers at the Falls of St. Mary, and stopped their 
advance a few leagues short of that point. This war con- 
tinued until 1679, when the French interceded, and Captain 
Du Lut visited the head of Lake Superior and negotiated 
a peace between the Knisteneux and Chippeways, and the 
Assiniboins, the northern band of the Dakotas, which in- 
habited the country from the head of Lake Superior west, 
leaving the southern bands of the Dakotas to continue their 
war with the several Algonquin tribes on the Wisconsin 
river, and the Illinois, who had become allies of the latter 
tribes. This peace was another intrigue of the French, like 
that with the Hurons, and produced another civil war. 

While the war was progressing with the Delawares, an 
Illinois chief, in open council, at the French post at Macki- 
naw, unprovoked, stabbed and killed a chief of the Iroquois. 
This outrage never having been settled, the Iroquois, in 
1680, sent a war party of about 600 to take the usual re- 
venge on the Illinois. This war party was joined by the 
Miamies, and in September attacked the Illinois, then on 
the river of that name, and killed and took prisoners over 
1,200, and drove the balance of the tribe, as fugitives, west 
of the Mississippi. This attack was while the party of La 
Salle was on the Illinois river, some of whom were wounded 
in attempting to negotiate for the Illinois. About three 
years subsequent to this, another war party of the Iroquois 
of about 1,000 attempted to surprise the Foxes of Wisconsin 
in their winter's hunt. They passed along the north shore 
of Lake Huron late in the fall, and sought the Foxes near 
the head-waters of the Wisconsin river, as it was supposed ; 
or, as some have it, near the Kewenaw bay of Lake Su- 
perior. The Foxes, fortunately warned by two Chippe- 
ways who had seen the party, fortified themselves on a 
narrow neck of land 'between two small lakes, and after a 
desperate struggle for several days, repulsed the Iroquois 



54 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

with heavy loss. Indeed, the Foxes claimed that they 
nearly destroyed the whole party. The story of this battle 
was related to La Hontan, while he was on the upper Missis- 
sippi in 1688, by three Fox chiefs, with great pomp and 
nourish ; and Captain Carver, who visited that region in 
1766 and 1767, had repeatedly related to him by the Chip- 
leeways the tradition of the battle. This defeat seems to 
have mainly closed the war of the Iroquois in the north- 
west, inaugurated by Champlain by his alliance with the 
Hurons seventy-three years previous. •. 

But if the Iroquois sent no more powerful war parties to 
the north-west, it was not on account of a lack of ability to 
do so, but because the French took up the cause of the Illi- 
nois, and threatened to renew the war against the Iroquois 
unless the latter tribes desisted in their attacks on the 
French allies of the north-west. This demand of the French 
the Iroquois flatly denied, and to show their contempt for 
the French, sent a war party against Fort St. Louis. The 
French sent their popular traders to the north-west, who 
brought down to Niagara large bands of the Hurons, Otta- 
was, Foxes and other tribes ; but the Governor of Canada, 
wasting his time in corresponding with Governor Dongan, 
of New York, failed to meet them at Niagara as agreed, to 
the great disgust of his allies. The Governor of Canada 
finally reached the south shore of Lake Ontario, at a point 
above Oswego, ever since called "Anse de la Famine," 
where many of his troops died with famine and local dis- 
eases. Here he met a delegation of Iroquois, and concluded 
a treaty with them, leaving out the chief point of their dis- 
pute, to the disgust of all Canada. Indeed, " the arrogant 
chief of the Mohawks " told the governor in council, that 
" so far from leaving the Illinois in peace, war against them 
is meant, till one of our tribes is exterminated." As soon 
as the report of this treaty reached France, it was rejected 
by the French ministry, the governor was removed (1685), 
and M. Denonville, with 600 troops, was sent to Canada to 



THE INDIAN TKIBES, ETC. 55 

supersede him and conquer their Indian enemies. The sum- 
mer of 1686 was spent by the French in preparing for war, 
and in hypocritical negotiations for peace. In the spring 
of 1687 eight hundred more troops arrived to reinforce the 
Canadian army. With all this force Governor Denonville 
opened the campaign with an act of treachery that shocked 
the moral sensibilities of his most savage allies. He sent a 
Jesuit priest to the Iroquois, to summon a large delegation 
of their chiefs to hold a council and settle all difficulties. 
When these chiefs arrived and took their place in council, 
a j)osition sacred in the eyes of even the King of Dahomey, 
the governor meanly arrested and sent them in chains to 
France, leaving the poor priest as a kind of hostage in the 
Indian country, to the mercy of the Iroquois. To the credit, 
however, of the Indians, they scorned to revenge themselves 
on the poor priest, but sent him under a safe escort to his 
friends in Canada. The governor then led his troops into 
the Indian country, had a skirmish with 300 Mohawks, 
who burned their own town and fled. The French obtained 
a quantity of the Indians' corn, and then retired from the 
country, making no attempt to invade the balance of the 
confederacy. 

The retreat of Governor Denonville from the country was 
the signal for the rallying of the fierce old warriors to re- 
venge and punish an accumulation of grievances ; and 
during the balance of the summer and fall they ravaged all 
western Canada with fire and tomahawk, and even assaulted 
the block-houses about Montreal. 

During the following winter the French made a truce 
with the Iroquois, which their allies were suffered to contin- 
ually break ; but finally, in the spring, the Governor of 
Canada was notified by the Governor of New York, that as 
the Iroquois occupied a part of the British territory, the 
king had taken those Indians under his protection. Thus 
the Indian affairs were suffered to rest during the year 1688, 
as both English and French turned their attention to the 



56 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

revolutions in Europe. The right of succession to the British 
crown having been contested by the King of France, he 
declared war against the English in June, 1689, and the 
most distant colonies prepared for their defense against 
invasion, and their respective Indian allies were armed 
anew, and urged on by the exciting influence of spirituous 
liquors to deeds of blood and carnage. 

The Iroquois, still smarting from an accumulation of in- 
juries, opened the campaign; and on the 5th of August, 
1689, with 1,400 warriors, disembarked on the Island of 
Montreal in the dark hours of the night, and for several 
leagues devastated the garden of Canada with fire and 
tomahawk, and Lachine was laid in ashes by daylight. 
They then passed to other parishes, and for ten weeks, al- 
most unresisted, held high carnival in the richest portion of 
that country. 

The following winter, the French made a descent on New 
York, burned Schenectady, massacred sixty of its inhabit- 
ants, and carried off twenty-seven prisoners. Another party 
burned Dover, in New Hampshire, killed twenty-three of 
its inhabitants, and carried off twenty-nine captives. The 
Abenakis, with a party of French, were sent against the 
settlements of Maine, where they massacred two hundred 
whites, and burned Casco and the houses for some distance 
around. The beautiful settlement of Salmon Falls was also 
burned. In this conflict, nearly all the north-western tribes 
were hired by the French and sent against the English and 
Dutch colonists. 

During this severe contest, and until the peace of 1700, 
the Foxes and their allies kept up their war parties against 
the Sioux, which very much offended the French, as the 
latter nation desired all the strength of the north-west 
against the English. It had the effect, also, to nearly 
destroy the French trade with the Sioux, as the Foxes in- 
sisted during the time, that the French traders should not 
sell guns and ammunition, " articles contraband of war,"*' to 



TIIE INDIAN TUIBES, ETC. 57 

the former tribe. The French, acting on the principle that 
the Indians had no rights which white men were bound to 
respect, persisted in their contraband trade, and conse- 
quently their traders were repeatedly plundered by the 
Foxes and their allies. The French vowed vengeance 
against those Indians, but admitted that they were in no 
condition to punish the Indians at that" time, but treasured 
their wrath until it was well satiated by the massacre at 
Detroit, in 1712. 

The great power of the Iroquois, backed and armed as 
they were by the Dutch and English, finally induced the 
French to try diplomacy instead of war with the confede- 
rates, and in 1700 they effected a treaty, which the follow- 
ing year was ratified with great pomp and flourish by more 
than twenty of the north-western tribes, in which the French 
" buried the hatchet" in untold depths of earth, and de- 
clared that they would exterminate the tribe that first re- 
newed the war. The French evidently designed at first to 
split the confederacy and get up another civil war, and 
made their first treaty with the Senecas, but the whole con- 
federacy ratified it, under their plea to the English, that it 
was necessary to get back their prisoners. This treaty the 
English opposed, but failed to defeat ; and in 1700 the Earl 
of Bellomont made a treaty with the Iroquois, nearly the 
same month as that in which the treaty was made by the 
French, by which the English and Indians renewed their 
covenant chain. The following language of the Earl to the 
Indian chiefs, expresses the feelings of the parties : "I 
have been told that the Jesuits have warned you not to 
come hither and enter into a conference with me, assuring 
you that I should meet you with a great armed force here, 
to surprise and cut you off, and that when that failed, I 
should give you poison to drink in rum ; but you shall find 
a treatment so contrary to what the Jesuits have insinuated 
to you, that if you do not give up your reason to those ill 
men, they will forever hereafter pass with you for the 
4* 



58 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

greatest liars and impostors in the world, and men that are 
a reproach to Christianity." 

Frequent attempts were made by the English and Dutch 
of New York to establish posts and open trade with the 
north-western Indians, but these parties were generally 
plundered and taken prisoners by the French. For the pur- 
pose of opening such a trade, in 1686 seven Englishmen and 
five Indians visited Detroit, and the following year Major 
McGregor organized a party of sixty young men of Albany 
and several Mohegan Indians, and with thirty-two canoes, 
and merchandise for the Indian trade, started for Detroit ; ' 
but they were met by the French on Lake Erie, their goods 
plundered, and the party sent prisoners to Canada, and not 
released until in the fall of that year, after considerable 
negotiation by the English authorities. Soon after this, the 
French established a military post above Detroit, and the 
English, for the time, abandoned the trade. After the 
general peace with the Indian tribes in 1700, the English 
made another attempt to extend their trade to the north- 
west, but with not much better success ; and the French 
made the most strenuous efforts to keep the north-western 
Indians from even visiting Albany to trade. 

To this end M. de Pontchartrain wrote from Versailles, 
June 6th, 1708, that " It is no way advisable that the In- 
dians visit Orange (Albany) and other English settlements, 
and an effort should be made to excite a vigorous and 
general war between these Indians and the English." 
Again, in a letter of the same date, to the Governor of 
Canada, he says : " I request you to endeavor to so manage 
and engage them (Indians) to make war against the Eng 
lish, as to put a stop to all such commercial intercourse.''' 
Accordingly, M. de Tonty, the Commandant of Fort Fronte- 
nac, endeavored to stop all trading parties of the north- 
western Indians from having intercourse with the English, 
which produced much dissatisfaction among those tribes, 
but did not entirely stop that trade. The Indians had 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 59 

found that the English goods were nearly half cheaper than 
those of the French, and the open forests enabled them to 
escape their vigilance. From this time the English in- 
fluence began to gain in the north-west. 

The peace that had for a time existed between the Sioux 
and the Indians of the region of Hudson's Bay, was 
finally broken, as the French believed, by the influence of 
the English traders at that place ; and in the fall of 1700 the 
great war broke out between the Sioux and the Christin- 
eaux, in which the " Assenipoils" (Assiniboins) and the 
Chippeways joined the latter tribe. This formidable array 
from the north created no little alarm among the warlike 
Dakotas ; particularly as among their enemies were now 
arrayed the Assiniboins, a part of their own confederacy, 
and hence " Greek must meet Greek." The Dakotas, as 
skillful in diplomacy as in war, in 1702 made peace with 
the Foxes and their allies along the Fox and Wisconsin 
rivers, and, to the chagrin of the French, engaged the latter 
tribes against their fierce enemies of the north. The Iowas, 
and several other southern tribes, also joined the Dakotas. 
Thus was organized the second great Indian war of modern 
times, which was continued at intervals and with modifica- 
tions for nearly one hundred and fifty years. In later years 
it has been called " the hereditary war between the Sioux 
and Chippeways," and baffled the diplomacy at times 
of both the English and French nations. The Sacs and 
Foxes, however, had had some difficulties with the Chippe- 
ways, and they took this occasion to redress them. This is 
confirmed by the Governor of Canada, in his dispatch of 
November 4th, 1702, wherein he writes that " the differences 
that have arisen between the Sauteurs (Chippeways) and 
Sacs and Foxes, had terminated in mutual acts of hostilities." 

The treaty of 1700, formed with the different tribes under 
the solemn pledges of the Governor of Canada that the 
French would take up arms against any tribe of Indians 
who should make war on another tribe, was evidently de- 



60 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

signed by the French as a treaty to quiet the Iroquois, 
while the Governor used the other tribes to make war on 
the English. It had but just been ratified, when the Gov- 
ernor of Canada wrote to the French Government, that it 
" acquired for the king a certain and incontestable superi- 
ority in Canada over all New England," and that the New 
England people were " cowardly to an astonishing degree." 
In November, i702, the Governor of Canada wrote M. de 
Pontchartrain that " I will not omit any thing to get the 
English and Iroquois at loggerheads and to attach the latter 
to us, in order then to make use of the power you sent me 
in your letter of the 17th of May, to undertake something 
with more certainty against the English." 

So inconsistent did the French soon appear to even the 
untutored savage, that the Iroquois chief told the Governor 
of Canada that " you tell us that we remain quiet on our 
mats. Nevertheless, we see our brothers of the Sault and 
the Mountain, who ought to be neutral like us, strike the 
English. You have given them the hatchet, and they go to 
war against the English." 

From the treaty of 1700, the French used their whole 
diplomatic art to engage the north-western Indians in a war 
against the English, but with little success, owing to the 
great war then progressing on the upper Mississippi among 
those nations. They soon found that scolding and threat- 
ening would not avail them, and therefore they appointed a 
special agent to visit the north-west, to stop the war, and 
make combinations for that purpose. On this subject, the 
Governor of Canada, in his dispatch of the 31st of October, 
1710, remarked that, "As it is our interest to prevent these 
Indians waging war against each other, so as to have it in 
our power to make use of them in case of need, should the 
Iroquois happen to declare against us, M. Raudot and I 
have concluded to send an officer thither to arrest their 
hatchet, and have selected, at the request of M. de Rame- 
zay, Sieur d'Argenteuil, his brother-in-law," etc. 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 61 

In 1711 the eventful time arrived for renewing the war 
against the English, and Governor Vaudreuil dispatched De 
Tonty to Detroit and De St. Pierre, by way of Grand river, 
to bring down the upper Indians to Montreal, for the pur- 
pose of engaging them in a war against the English. He 
returned with 400 or 500, who were afterwards joined by 
others, and who, in the language of the Governor, after 
showing a great reluctance to " closing the path to the 
English ; for, after all, my lord, all the upper nations, even 
to the Indians of Lake Superior, resort thither," consented 
to take up the tomahawk against the English. 

But this force was far inferior to that desired by the 
French, and this was charged on the Foxes and their allies 
along the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, who positively refused 
to stop their war against the Chippeways, and engage 
against the English. 

However, the sequel is briefly told in the dispatch to M. 
de Pontchartrain, dated November 6, 1*712, wherein it is 
stated : " This is what occurred this year, for the man 
named Saguina, having discovered during the winter the 
secret to unite with the Pautawatimis. in order to wage 
war together against the Maskoutens and the Outagamies 
(Foxes), not only destroyed a considerable number of them 
in the place where they were wintering, but having further 
found means to win over almost all the other tribes to his 
interest, pursued these unfortunate people as far as Detroit, 
where they have killed or taken prisoners nearly a thousand 
of both sexes." 

The Governor of Canada, it will be observed, is extremely 
careful not to intimate that the French had any hand in the 
massacre at Detroit ; and still he must have had the dispatch 
of the commandant at Detroit, which claimed it as a great 
French victory. The facts were evidently these : During 
the winter of 1711 and 1712, the French, by their agent, 
had gained over to then* interest the Potawatomies and some 
other tribes, which were then in alliance with the Foxes and 



62 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Mascotens, and while a large band of the latter tribes were 
engaged in their winter's hunt in the present State of 
Michigan. Early In the spring, the Ottawas and their new 
allies, the Potowatomies, suddenly attacked and massacred 
150 Mascotens at St. Joseph's, where they had wintered, and 
the Ohippeways attacked and defeated a band of Foxes 
sixteen miles above Detroit; whereupon the bands of 
Pemoussa and Lamina, of Mascotens and Foxes, including 
women and children, numbering nearly 1,000, retreated to 
Detroit, and pitched their camp within fifty paces of Fort 
Pontchartrain. 

This so alarmed the commandant, M. Dubuisson, that, to 
use his own language, he " did not know on what saint to 
call ;" but he immediately dispatched messages to the hostile 
nations, and in a few weeks there came together large bands 
of the Chippeways, Ottawas, Hurons, Potowatomies, and 
lastly, a large force of Illinois, Missouris, Osages, Sacs, 
Menominies, and other remote nations. A short council 
was held by the French and war chiefs, powder and ball 
distributed to the allies, when a great war-whoop was given, 
"the earth trembled," and the battle commenced. 

It progressed with great violence for nineteen days, all 
being fortified, when on a dark, rainy night, the Mascotens 
and Foxes fled four leagues to Presque Isle, near Lake St. 
Clair, where they again fortified, and were again besieged, 
and after four days surrendered at discretion. All but the 
women and children, and 100 men, were immediately killed. 
The 100 men were bound, but made their escape. What 
became of the women and children, the French commandant 
does not inform us, but from the number given as killed, we 
naturally infer that they belonged to that list. Indeed, he 
admits that the Hurons killed all their prisoners. During 
this terrible battle, the Foxes and Mascotens twice asked for 
peace, but the French commandant refused it, because, in 
his own language, he " understood they were paid by the 
English for our destruction." 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 63 

The French commandant, in his boasting dispatch, as- 
sumed that these Indians cameto attack him, but from the fact 
that they were there with their women and children, at the 
close of their winter's hunt, made- no attack on a weak wood 
fort with only about a score of soldiers, for weeks, while the 
French Indian allies were still absent on their winter's hunt, 
openly protested their peaceable intentions, and had never 
broken the peace of 1700, the writer is perfectly satisfied 
that this was a wanton massacre on the part of the French, 
to punish them for not going to Montreal the previous year, 
and taking up the tomahawk against the English. 

Nothing appears in the English documents that the Foxes 
or Mascotens were in alliance with the English; but in 
1710 the Governor of New York told the Iroquois, "the 
only way to strengthen you and us, and to weaken ye enemy, 
is to have as many (of the " Far nations ") brought into the 
covenant chain as possible." 

The treaty of peace concluded at Utrecht, April 11, 1713, 
may have closed the series of universal wars for the bal- 
ance of power in Europe, but it did not equalize the wrongs 
of their allies in America. The Foxes and Mascotens soon 
reestablished their alliance with all the tribes along the Fox 
and Wisconsin rivers, closed the French path to the Sioux 
by the Wisconsin river, and in 1719 the war raged fearfully 
against both the Illinois Indians on the south, and the Chip- 
peways on the north. 

In 1714 the French fitted out an expedition of eight 
hundred French and Indians, all pledged to exterminate 
every Fox Indian in Canada, according to Charlevoix, (torn, 
iv., p. 155,) which attacked the Fox fort on the Fox river; 
but after carrying on the siege for several days, evidently 
with considerable loss, the French abated the extermina- 
tion, made a peace with the Foxes, and returned home. 

But the French again resorted to diplomacy, and June 
7th, 1726, M. de Lignery, the commandant at Mackinaw, 
concluded a treaty of peace at Green Bay, with the Sacs, 



64 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Foxes, and Winnebagoes, while some of the war parties of 
those tribes were still on the war path against the Illinois and 
Chippeways. That fact may have made the treaty irreg- 
ular; but the following year the French secretly resolved 
to exterminate the Foxes at all hazards. They made peace 
with the Sioux, and in the fall of 1727 established a fort on 
Lake Pepin, under the command of Sieur de Lapperriere, 
with the Rev. Father Guignas as Jesuit missionary. The 
Foxes so far gave effect to the treaty of peace, that they did 
not disturb the small force when on their way to establish 
that fort. The Governor of Canada also sent a circular in 
1727 to the commandants of all the French forts in the 
western country, " to make all necessary preparations for 
the expedition ;" and said, " it is of the highest consequence 
that the Foxes should not be informed of this design." 

The expedition left Canada early in the spring of 1728, 
nearly 1,000 strong, and were joined by the western forces 
and Indian allies at Green Bay ; but they signally failed, 
either in surprising or exterminating the Foxes- or their 
allies. The good Father Guignas abandoned his Sioux 
mission, and fled towards the Illinois, but was captured by 
the Mascotens and Kickapoos, in October of the same year, 
remained a prisoner five months, and was condemned to be 
burned at the stake, but was saved by an old Indian's 
adopting him into his family. The French say but little of 
the misfortune of this expedition, got up in secret, in viola- 
tion of their treaty of 1726, but it was evidently a disas- 
trous affair. 

The French then changed their tactics, and thought to 
cut them off by parties of the Iroquois ; and we find, in 
1732, the Governor of Canada asking his king for medals to 
bestow upon Indian chiefs, to redeem his promise. Said 
the governor : " The adventure of our Iroquois and Hurons 
against the Foxes, places me under the obligation of giving 
a few to the principal chiefs of the expedition." 

This process proved too slow, and a new military expedi- 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 65 

tion was gotten up, and a battle fought, in 1734, when the 
King of France writes to the governor, in 1735, that he 
had " learned with pleasure that Captain Desnoyelle's expe- 
dition against the Foxes and Sacs has not been attended by 
any bad consequences." The Foxes were, however, not 
yet subdued, and in 1741 the Governor of Canada again 
writes, " that he learns that some under-ground belts were 
sent by the English to diverse Indian nations, inviting them 
to rid themselves of the French ;" that " the Foxes had sent 
out some war parties against the Illinois, whereby several 
Frenchmen have been killed ;" " that some brilliant action 
would be necessary, in order to keep the nations in check ;" 
and that " this project" must be " kept a secret ;" that he 
had " nothing so much at heart as the destruction of that 
Indian nation, (Foxes,) and that they had " a secret under- 
standing with the Iroquois to secure a retreat among the 
latter, in case they were obliged to abandon their villages," 
and a similar one with " the Sioux of the Prairies, with whom 
they are allied." Still further to circumvent the Foxes, 
Sieur de Lusignan, Commandant of the French, spent the 
winter of 1745-6 with the Sioux, to effect a peace between 
them and the Winnebagoes, Menomonies, and Chippeways, 
with whom they had been at war for a long time. 

But the misfortunes of the French with their Indian 
allies in 1747, culminated in a general conspiracy, as the 
governor wrote in November, " fomented by the English, 
who, by force of presents and lies, excite the Indians against 
us," and among other overt acts, he says : " The Sauteurs 
(Chippeways) have defeated one French canoe and plun- 
dered the goods," and that " the Foxes at the Bay, the Sioux 
and the Sacs — in a word, all the nations, so to speak — 
have struck whenever an opportunity presented." 

These difficulties had occurred after Captain de la Corne 

St. Luc, the commandant at Mackinaw, had mustered all 

the north-western Indians possible, and taken them to 

Canada to fight against the English. His first attack with 

5 



66 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

these allies was on Fort Clinton, where he took some 
English scalps. This general conspiracy was soon arranged, 
but it still had the effect to bring back the most of these 
allies who had gone east. 

Captain de Vercheres, the commandant at Green Bay, did 
not leave Mackinaw for the Bay, for fear of the Bay Indians, 
until the first of October, 1747, and about the middle of the 
same month wrote to Mackinaw that " he had not been able 
to speak to the Indians, who were, when he arrived, all gone 
to their winter quarters without having given any token of 
rej^entance for the outrages they had perpetrated. It is 
hence to be presumed," he said, " that they persist in their 
evil dispositions." 

The spring and summer of 1748 was mainly devoted to 
various " talks " and negotiations with the different tribes 
in the north-west, with no definite results, until the 3rd of 
August, when the news of the treaty of peace between 
England and France having reached Canada, the governor, 
by his proclamation, " orders all the nations to be notified 
not to go to New England on any more war parties ; that 
they will not be paid in future for prisoners or scalps." The 
Indians naturally resolved themselves into quietness when 
the whites no longer needed their services, and consequently 
lopped off their usual bribes and excitements to war. 

Hon. Morgan L. Martin, in his address before the State 
Historical Society of Wisconsin, in 1851, speaking from the 
traditions extant at Green Bay among the half-breed popu- 
lation, said that in 1746 the Sacs and Foxes were defeated 
by Captain Morand, " and finally driven beyond the Missis- 
sippi." Mr. Grignon, in his " Recollections," published by 
the State Historical Society, speaks of the tradition, and 
thought that the occurrence was in 1745, and that his grand- 
father probably was in the expedition. 

Captain John Carver, in 1766 spoke of the tradition, and 
fixed the time at sixty years previous, which would have 
made it in 1706. 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 67 

From the narrative which is here given, and which has 
mainly been compiled from official French documents, it 
will be observed that each of the traditions are equally im- 
probable, as the Sacs and Foxes were still powerful, and 
inhabiting the Wisconsin valley in 1712, 1728, 1748, and 
1754. 

The exploits of Captain Morand are believed to be no 
where alluded to in any of the public documents, and he 
was probably the mythical hero, or Ho bin Hood, over which 
the French fathers beguiled their dusky half-breed children 
at the old trading-posts of La Bay de Puans. 

The important wars between the colonies and their allies 
so absorbed the attention of the Indians, of the Upper Mis- 
sissippi, that they do not appear to have done much damage 
for several years, and in 1754 the French commandant at 
Green Bay, Sieur Marin, succeeded in effecting a treaty of 
peace between the Sacs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, and other 
tribes of the Bay Indians, and their enemies, the Ohippe- 
ways, Christinaux, and French. 

This peace was of great advantage to the French, as it 
enabled them, the following years, on the breaking out of 
the French and Indian war, to muster over six hundred of 
the north-western Indians, and march them to Fort Du- 
ques7ie, where they assisted the French in the defeat of the 
army under General Braddock. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE INDIAN TRIBES, PROM 1*755 TO THE CLOSE OF THE 
PONTIAC WAR, IN 1763. 

The impending struggle between the French and British 
nations, which was to settle the question of the extent of 
their colonial possessions in America, induced the former to 
change their system of keeping the various Indian tribes 
embroiled in wars among themselves, to the great scandal 
of civilized humanity. Hence, the French Government in- 
structed M. Duquesne, the Governor of Canada, as early as 
April, 1752, that " 'Tis considered proper to direct M. Du- 
quesne to lay down henceforward in Canada, a different 
system from that always followed hitherto, in regard to 
wars among the Indians. With a view to occupy and 
weaken them, the principle has been to excite and foment 
these sorts of wars. That was of advantage in the infancy 
of the settlement of Canada. But in the condition to which 
these nations are now reduced, and in their present disposi- 
tions generally, it is in every respect more useful that the 
French perform between them the part of protectors and 
pacificators. They will, thereby, entertain more considera- 
tion and attachment for us ; the colony will be more tranquil 
in consequence, and we shall save considerable expense. 
Cases, however, may occur in which it will be proper to ex- 
cite war against certain nations attached to the English ; 
but even such cases call for two observations : one, to 
endeavor first to gain over these same nations, by recon- 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 69 

ciling them with ours ; and the other, to be as sure as pos- 
sible that our Indians will not suffer too much from these 
wars," 

This new system, however, was evidently to be pursued 
as intimated, only when the French could not avail them- 
selves of the Indians' services ; hence, M. Duquesne reported 
to his Government, in October, 1754, that "the Poutwa- 
tomies, Kickapoux, Maskoutins, and Sioux of the Prairies, 
have assembled together, to go and destroy the Peorias, 
who, for a long time have regarded with insolence the other 
Indians; they are, moreover, people of no faith, who steal 
with impunity, even in their neighbors' cabins. This war, 
in which I am not at all interested, can be productive only 
of a good effect in putting down such banditti. I have, 
nevertheless, ordered the commandant to adjust all matters 
after these rascals will have received a sharp lesson." 

The impending crisis seems to have been well understood 
by both governments, and as early as the summer of 1753, 
the French opened the campaign, by sending Sieur Marin, 
with about two hundred and fifty soldiers and some Indians, 
to take formal possession of the Ohio valley, who erected a 
fort at " River au Boeuf" at the present site of Waterford, 
Erie county, Pennsylvania. 

In October following, Major George Washington was 
dispatched by Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, to the 
commandant at the French fort, remonstrating against the 
French occupying the Ohio valley. The English, about the 
same time, commenced the erection of a fort at the present 
site of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but were soon dispossessed 
by the French, who proceeded with the work, and erected 
Fort Duquesne. 

In April, 1754, Lieutenant-Colonel Washington was dis- 
patched by the Governor of Virginia, with a force of about 
400 troops, to drive out the French from the valley ; but in 
the mean time, the French, having been reinforced, attacked 



10 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Colonel Washington at Fort Necessity, July 3, 1754, and 
forced him to surrender his troops. 

Thus we find that the question of the right to the posses- 
sion of the great valley of the Mississippi, at this early day, 
involved two continents in a murderous, destructive war, 
which continued over eight years, bringing untold sufferings 
upon both the white and the red men of the new world. 
The British government dispatched two regiments to Vir- 
ginia from some Irish port, as early as January 13, 1755, 
under the command of General Braddock; and in April 
following, the French sent a fleet of six battalions of regu- 
lars, of about 3,000 men, under the command of Baron de 
Dieskaw, as major-general. 

In February, the Shawnees, of Ohio valley, were excited 
to commence war against the English settlements, and took 
seventeen scalps and ten prisoners, and M. Duquesne sent a 
detachment of troops on the ice from Montreal to support 
the Indians. With no declaration of war between the home 
governments, but under the strongest protestations of peace, 
both nations hastened to send large armies across the 
Atlantic, while the recruiting drums rattled in every colo- 
nial village, and the war-whoop was heard in every savage 
tribe from the Atlantic to the Rocky mountains, and from 
the Gulf of Mexico to the frozen regions of the north. 

The popular Sieur Marin, who commanded the French 
expedition to the Ohio in 1753, returned to Canada late in 
the fall of the same year, and in the following spring was 
assigned to the command of the post at Green Bay, where 
he effected a peace between the Sacs, Foxes and other Bay 
Indians, and the Christinaux of Lake Superior, thus recon- 
ciling the troublesome Foxes, with whom the French had 
been at war for nearly forty years, and brought the united 
Indian force of the north-west into the league against the 
English. 

As the campaign of 1755 opened on the Ohio, all the popu- 
lar Indian leaders of the north-west called Indian councils, 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 71 

distributed war belts, ammunition, arms, blankets and other 
presents, with a good supply of brandy, and rallied the 
dusky warriors for the murderous conflicts which ensued. 
The prominent Indian traders, believing that the exclusive 
possession of the Mississippi valley by the French was 
absolutely necessary to preserve to them their monopoly of 
Indian trade, seconded the efforts of the French officers, and 
in a few days long files of warriors, under their bravest 
chiefs, were on their way for the defense of Fort Duquesne, 
at Pittsburgh. Charles Langlade, a half-breed trader of 
Green Bay, De Carry, a French trader among the Winne- 
bagoes, and father of a line of Winnebago chiefs, of whom 
one-eyed De Carry was grandson, and others too numerous 
to mention, trading among other tribes, joined the winding 
files as leaders and interpreters, and were often the most 
savage of their savage companions in arms. These bands 
were joined on the route by small parties of warriors from 
most of the tribes of the Ohio valley, and a considerable 
force soon congregated at Fort Duquesne for the defense of 
that post. 

General Braddock, with nearly 1,200 regular veteran 
soldiers from Great Britain, and some provincials from 
Virginia, under Colonel Washington, who had cut his way, 
at great labor, over the mountains of Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania, was met within four leagues of Fort Duquesne, on 
the 9th day of July, 1755, by an advance party of skir- 
mishers, consisting of 72 French regulars, 146 Canadians, 
and 637 north-western Indians, all under the command of 
Captain de Beaujou; and after a severe battle of nearly 
four hours, General Braddock's army was routed with great 
slaughter, and put to flight. This action cost the English 
nearly 600 men dead on the field, according to the French 
account, besides wounded; fifteen brass field-pieces and 
mortars, and their entire ammunition and camp equipage. 
General Braddock was mortally wounded, and a large pro- 
portion of his officers killed. Captain de Beaujou, the French 



72 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

commandant, was killed at the first fire, but the losses of 
the French and Indians were claimed to be less than 100. 

This decisive action for a time left the Ohio valley in the 
peaceable possession of the French, and their allies of the 
north-west. Baron de Dieskaw was quite as unfortunate in 
his campaign against Fort Lake George as his English 
cotemporary had been in Pennsylvania. The Baron left 
Montreal with 720 French regulars, 1,500 Canadians, and 
760 Indians of the Huron, Iroquois, Abenakis, and Nepiss- 
ing tribes. He passed along Lake Champlain, and with a 
large part of his regulars and Canadians, and all his Indian- 
allies, on the 8th of September, 1755, attacked the advance 
of about 1,000 provincials and Indians, under Colonel 
Williams and the Mohawk Chief Hendricks, which he drove 
in with the loss of those two leaders and many of the men, 
and then assaulted the camp at Fort Lake George, com- 
manded by General William Johnson. In this assault he 
was himself mortally wounded and taken prisoner, Captain 
St. Peter, who commanded the Indians, killed, his forces 
utterly defeated and routed, and pursued for some distance 
with great slaughter. General Johnson had about 250 
Indians of the six nations in his command, but the most of 
those" tribes either remained neutral or had joined the 
French. Baron de Dieskaw charged the loss of the battle 
" to the treachery of the Iroquois," and that " as the 
Iroquois perceived some Mohawks, they came to a dead 
halt ;" but this statement was not corroborated in Governor 
Vaudreuil's dispatch, who, on the contrary, stated that the 
I: di;ins charged up to the English barricades, led on by the 
Rev. Father Andran, the Jesuit missionary of the Abenakis. 

After the defeat of General Braddock, the north-western 
Indians returned home, and the Governor of Canada ordered 
the commandants at Detroit and Mackinaw to send down a 
body to assist in the defence of Niagara as early as Septem- 
ber of the same year ; but those commandants reported that 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 73 

the Indians " were so fatigued after their campaign at Fort 
Duquesne, that they were unable to go." 

The fierce battles which ended by the total defeat of the 
armies of Generals Braddock and Dieskaw, had so far 
brought to light the intrigues and hypocrisy of the courts 
of the two nations, that further secrecy was of no import- 
ance; and, December 21st, 1755, the French foreign minis- 
ter publicly demanded " reparation for insults to the French 
flag," to which the British minister replied, January 13, 
1756, that it could not be accorded While the "French 
armed posts to the north-west of the Alleghanies existed." 

After the war had been carried on nearly two years, it 
was formally proclaimed by England, May 17th, 1756, and 
by France, June 16th following; but little had been accom- 
plished, however, between the contending armies. During 
this year, crimination between the English and colonial 
officers run high. General Shirley was made commander- 
in-chief by the crown, but the colonists early refused to 
volunteer under him, and demanded General Winslow. 

Colonel Washington, as early as February, visited Gen- 
eral Shirley at Boston, to settle the rank between himself 
and Captain Dagworthy, holding a king's commission. In 
the mean time, the Indian forces were called in from the 
north-west by the French officials, and overran all the 
western parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Caro- 
lina, and Georgia; and the French claimed that over 
3,000 prisoners, men, women, and children, were captured 
and carried into the Ohio valley. Colonel Washington, 
with a regiment of Rangers, whom the French claimed 
were dressed and painted like Indians, acted on the defen- 
sive, but could not defend so extensive a frontier. The 
French had in their service this season, seven hundred Dela- 
wares and Shawnees, two hundred and fifty Miamies, and 
three hundred Indians from Detroit; also, seven hundred 
from Mackinaw, under the command of De Repentigny, 
Langlade, and Herbert, junior. They also had many from 
5* 



74 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Illinois and from Canada; — in all amounting to 3,250, as 
appeared by a French dispatch. 

M. Marin, the commandant at Green Bay, with sixty 
Indians from his post, with De Villiers, the commandant 
from New Orleans, with four hundred French and Indians, 
on the 2nd July, 1756, attacked a large convoy of supplies 
for Oswego ; and he claimed to have destroyed five hundred 
bateaux, and killed four hundred and fifty English. Lieu- 
tenant De Villiers, the 2nd of August following, with a 
detachment of fifty-five French and Illinois Indians, cap- 
tured and burnt Fort Granville, within sixty miles of Phila- 
delphia. Lieutenant Marin, with his Wisconsin Indians, 
went to Lake George, and with a party of one hundred, 
captured fifty-two English near that lake, some time in 
September. During the following winter, several scalping 
expeditions were sent against the English, but there were 
probably no north-western Indians among them, as they 
returned home in the fall. 

The winter of 1756-7, in the north-west, was spent in 
recruiting Indians for the French army; and in June, 1757, 
1,000 reached Montreal, ready for new scenes of fight and 
plunder. General Montcalm planned the attack on Fort 
William Henry, at Lake George, and moved in that direc- 
tion. Lieutenant Marin, in charge of about two hundred 
Wisconsin Indians and Canadians, wmile on a scout in July, 
boldly attacked Fort Edward, and then retreated with one 
prisoner and thirty-two scalps. 

General Montcalm, in his dispatch, complimented these 
Indians, by saying, " they generally have all behaved well." 
The general labored hard to gain the confidence of his 
Indian allies, having, as he said, " chanted the war songs" 
with them, given " feasts," and held " councils ;" and was 
" obliged to pass" his " time with them in ceremonies as 
tiresome as they were necessary." He dare not mention to 
them the attempt to assassinate the king, for fear that 
" these barbarians, so ferocious in war, so humane in their 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 75 

lodges, might waver in their esteem for us, seeing us capable 
of producing such monsters." 

He was obliged to submit all his plans of the campaign 
to the general councils, " for," said he, " these independent 
people, whose assistance is purely voluntary, require to be 
consulted ; every thing must be communicated to them, and 
their opinions and caprices are oftentimes a law for us." 
But the greatest difficulty with all the white commandants 
was to keep the Indians from returning home after one 
battle, or even a skirmish in which a few scalps had been 
taken, for the reason, as wrote the general, that " these 
people scruple to incur again the risk of war after one suc- 
cess, pretending that such would be tempting the Master of 
Life, and bring down on them bad luck." After speaking 
of the praying Indians before the battle, he remarked : 
" But this pious exercise was not for the upper country 
nations, whose superstitions and excessively restless minds 
were juggling, dreaming, and fancying that every delay 
portended misfortune. On marching, these nations left 
suspended a complete equipment, as a sacrifice to the 
Manitoit, to render him propitious." 

Attached to the French army at the capture of Fort 
William Henry were 1,806 Indians, of which 820 were 
the " domiciliated" or Christian Indians of Canada, and the 
following from the north-west : 

C Commanded by De Langlade, Florement, 
Ottawas, . . 340 < and Herbin, with Abbe Mealavet, mis- 

sionary. 

La Plant and De Lorimer; Chesne, in- 
terpreter. 

De Tailly, interpreter. 

Marin and Langus. 
Reaume, interpreter. 



Total, . . 9S6 



Chippeways, 

Potowatomies, 

Menomonies, 


157 
■ 78 
. 129 


Miamies, 
Winnebagoes, 
lowas, . 
Foxes, . 
Onillas, 


• 15 
48 
10 
20 
10 


Sacs, 
Loups, . 


33 

5 



76 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

All of the Indian allies were placed under the command 
of M. de St. Luc, an old commandant at Mackinaw and in 
the north-west previous to 1748, who had often led the 
Indians against the English. 

Thus it is apparent that these Indians required all the 
tricks and appliances of civilization to induce them to 
engage in war against the English; and while they have 
done no worse than they were hired to do, they have a 
counterpart in the Hessians of Germany, who fought as 
hirelings for the English in our American revolution. 

Fort William Henry was attacked by General Montcalm, 
and surrendered August 9th, 1757, and the English soldiers 
paroled and sent to Fort Edward, under an escort, but were 
attacked on the way and plundered by the Indians, to the 
eternal disgrace of the French and their Indian allies; 
although many of the French officers, including General 
Montcalm, to their credit, risked their own lives in defence 
of the English soldiers. 

While this affair has been termed by the English a mas- 
sacre, but few of the English were killed. Nearly four 
hundred were taken as prisoners ; but the most of them 
were immediately released by General Montcalm, and the 
balance, after their return to Montreal. This unfortunate 
affair, however, was not charged against the north-western 
Indians ; but General Montcalm expressly says, in his dis- 
patch, that it was commenced by the Abenakis, a " domi- 
ciliated" tribe of Canada, " who pretended to have experi- 
enced some ill treatment at the hands of the English." 
They were probably retaliating for the New England mas- 
sacre of their own tribe at Norridgewock, in 1724, when 
the Rev. Father Rale, the aged Jesuit missionary, was 
mercilessly shot down while clinging to his mission cross, 
his church burned, and his Dictionary of the Abenakis 
language carried off and deposited in the Harvard college, 
where it still remains. Even as late as 1754, it appears by 
a letter of that date, from M. Duquesne, that the Abenakis 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 77 

were desiring to revenge the death of two of their chiefs, 
killed two years previous, near Boston. 

The Iowas, a kindred tribe to the Winnebagoes, appear 
to have sent ten warriors this year to assist the French; 
but the Sioux, probably on account of their wars with the 
Chippeways, never joined the French during the war. 

During the winter of 1757-8, several expeditions were 
made against the English by small parties of French and 
Indians ; one of which burnt a village on the German Fiats, 
and took one hundred and fifty prisoners ; another defeated 
Major Rogers, and carried off one hundred and forty-six 
scalps and a few prisoners ; but the Indians which accom- 
panied these marauding parties were the Iroquois, and other 
domiciliated Indians of Canada, the north-western Indians 
having returned home in the fall ; and, unfortunately, many 
of them on their way thither died with the small-pox, which 
generally proves fatal to them under their system of medi- 
cine. Many also died during the winter of the same disease, 
at Mackinaw and some other places. A difficulty also 
occurred at Green Bay, and a party of Menomonies killed 
eleven Canadians, burned the store-house, but missed the 
commandant, who was probably M. Marin. 

But few of the north-western Indians went to Canada in 
1758, and none of them were with General Montcalm when 
he defeated General Howe before Ticondaroga, July 8th ; 
but soon after that, the Indians were sent to General Mont- 
calm, under M. De St. Luc and M. Marin, who did some 
service in capturing an English convoy near Fort Edward, 
containing fifty-four wagons, on the 30th of the same month. 
M. Marin, " a colonial officer of great reputation," com- 
manded another expedition, which was met by the " par- 
tisan Robert Rogers," and defeated with some loss ; or, to 
use the more classic French, " he extricated himself very 
handsomely" from the English. 

The probability that the English would attack Niagara 
in the spring of 1759, induced the military authorities of 



78 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Canada to make early preparations for the defense of that 
post. They dispatched orders early in the fall of 1758, to 
the north-west, to bring down in the spring all the available 
force of the upper country, including the Illinois region and 
the Ohio valley, with a rendezvous at Presque Isle, near the 
present site of Erie, Pennsylvania. M. Pouchot, " an ex- 
perienced and intelligent " officer, was ordered to repair to 
the outlet of Lake Ontario, on the ice, in March, and with 
cannon ; from thence to embark, at the opening of naviga- 
tion, for Fort Niagara, in two corvettes, with two pickets 
of regulars. 

M. De Montigny, with 300 Canadians, and provisions in 
thirty bateaux, was to go by the north shore of Lake 
Ontario to Niagara, at the opening of navigation, while M. 
De St. Luc, with some Canadians and Indians, was to 
reconnoiter about Oswego. He made an attack on that 
place, but was driven off, and M. De St. Luc wounded. M. 
de Ligneris, in command at Fort Machault, at the junction 
of the Alleghany and French creek, Pennsylvania, was or- 
dered to repair to Niagara, if necessary for its defense. 

Agreeable to the anticipations of the authorities of 
Canada, the Americans and English, with 2,200 troops and 
600 Indians, mostly Iroquois, left Oswego July 1, 1759, for 
Niagara, under General Prideaux, with Colonel William 
Johnson, Indian agent, second in command, and were soon 
after joined by 300 additional Iroquois Indians, and on the 
7th of the same month laid siege to Fort Niagara. Notice 
of this anticipated attack was early sent to M. de Ligneris, 
the commandant at Presque Isle, to come with his whole 
force to the assistance of the besieged. 

On the 24th of July, M. de Ligneris, with his force from 
Ohio river, M. Aubry from Illinois, M. Marin from Green 
Bay, in charge of the Indians, and M. De Montigny, M. 
Repentigny, commandant at Mackinaw, and others, with 
a combined force estimated by the English at 850 Cana- 
dians, and 350 Indians, but by the French at 400 Canadians, 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 79 

and 30 Indians, attacked an English detachment, partly 
fortified, on the bank of the Niagara river, above the fort, 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Massey, and were totally defeated, 
with 200 killed, and 100 taken prisoners. The balance 
escaped back to the 150 Canadians left to guard the canoes 
and bateaux above the Falls, and under M. Belestre returned 
to Detroit with their Indian allies. Five captains and 
twelve subaltern officers, mostly wounded, were taken pris- 
oners, among whom were Messrs. De Ligneris, De Aubry, 
De Marin, De Montigny, and De Repentigny. On the fol- 
lowing day, M. Pouchot, having learned of the loss of this 
reinforcement, surrendered the fort to the English. 

This misfortune to the French was attributed by them to the 
fact that the 900 Iroquois Indians on the side of the English, 
induced the western Indians, nearly 1,000 strong, not to 
fight, but with them to remain neutral, and when M. Marin 
rallied his warriors for the fight, but thirty of the most 
determined of them followed him to the attack, while only 
about 100 Iroquois assisted the English. This defeat, with 
the loss of Fort Niagara, cut off from the French of Canada 
nearly all their western resources and western allies, and 
enabled the English to concentrate their entire force on 
Quebec and Montreal. This obliged the French to evacuate 
Crown Point and fall back on ISIsle au JVbix, near the 
outlet of Lake Champlain, on the 4th of August following. 

The fall of Quebec, September 18th, and the surrender of 
all Canada to the English the following September, 1760, 
closed the French power in Canada, which had continued 
for one hundred and fifty years. 

The English exercised no less zeal than the French to 
secure the Indians as their allies during the whole war. 
Early in the spring of 1755, General Braddock appointed 
Colonel William Johnson as Indian agent for the Six Nations 
in New York, and gave him £2,000, to be expended mainly 
in Indian presents. 

In June of the same year, Colonel Johnson called an 



80 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Indian council, at which he called the Great Spirit to wit- 
ness that the English had no evil designs against them, 
threw them the war belt in General Braddock's name, began 
the war-dance, and " ordered a large tub of punch out to 
drink the king's health." He armed, clothed and fitted out 
every Indian who would go to war against the French. The 
Indians complained of many frauds practiced on them in 
getting their lands, to which Colonel Johnson replied, with 
the present of a belt of wanrpum, that " I am convinced 
that many frauds have been made use of in the purchasing 
of your lands, for which I am very sorry," and pledged 
them redress. The Indians went to war, but the redress 
came not. The Indians of course became cold and neutral, 
and some joined the enemy, and the western nations laid 
waste the whole western frontier. 

Again, in September, 1757, Colonel Johnson remonstrated 
to the lords of trade, " that the Indians are disgusted and 
dissatisfied with the extensive purchases of land, and do 
think themselves injured thereby. This is one main cause 
of their defection from the British interest." In 1758 the 
British government awoke to the importance of the ques- 
tion, and at the treaty at Easton, Pennsylvania, held by the 
Governors of that State and New Jersey, they agreed to 
surrender to the Indians certain lands, the purchase of 
which had caused so much complaint; and the deeds of 
surrender were delivered to an assembly of ten nations of 
Indians, being the Iroquois and some of their allies, April 
17, 1759. At this time, Colonel Johnson remarked to them : 
" You see, while the French keep their forts in the midst of 
your country, and fight with us in order to secure the pos- 
session of them, we give up those lands which you had sold 
us." This was all very satisfactory to the Indians, and they 
delivered up their prisoners, and heartily engaged in the 
war against the French. 

This amicable adjustment of their difficulties gave Colonel 
Johnson 900 warriors in July at Fort Niagara, who won over 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 81 

the western Indians, and thereby hastened the downfall of 
the French power in America. So important did these 
measures appear to the lords of trade, that they reported, 
and the king in council confirmed, November 23, 1761, the 
following language : " It was happy for us that we were 
early awakened to a proper sense of the injustice and bad 
policy of such conduct towards the Indians; and no sooner 
were these measures pursued which indicated a disposition 
to do them possible justice upon this head of complaint, than 
those hostilities which had produced such horrid scenes of 
devastation ceased, and the Six Nations and their depend- 
ants became at once, from the most inveterate enemies, our 
fast and faithful friends." 

This war was sustained with great zeal by the French 
traders, and courrier de bois of the north-west, and probably 
two-thirds of them perished in the fearful conflicts which 
took place during its existence ; but, being on the unfortu- 
nate side, no historian of that day has preserved their 
memory, and they are only known, at this day, from the 
obscure traditions of their half-breed descendants. Some 
were the husbands of the daughters of Indian chiefs, and were 
fathers of illustrious lines of chiefs, who are yet in the pos- 
session of power in their respective tribes. As an instance, 
might be named De Carry, the grandfather of the old Win- 
nebago chief, " One-eyed De Carry." He married Ho-po- 
ko-e-Jcaw, or " the Glory of the Morning," the daughter of 
the principal chief of the Winnebagoes, and had two sons ; 
the oldest, Choo-ke-kaio, or " the Ladle," was head chief at 
the Portage, in Wisconsin, 1801, and signed the treaty of 
peace with the United States in 1816 : the younger son was 
C/iah-post-kaw-kaio, or " the Buzzard," who came with a 
band to La Crosse, where he was killed, previous to 1800. 
The latter was father to Wadge-hutta-kaw, or "the Big 
Canoe, commonly called " One-eyed De Carry " by the 
English. He died at the Tunnel, in Wisconsin, August, 
1864, very aged. 
6 



82 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Wiz-kon-ha-kaw, or " Snake Skin," another chief, brother 
to " Big Canoe," was alive in 1867. He was orator of the 
tribe, and known to the English as Washington De Carry. 
Old De Carry fought through the war, and was wounded 
April 28th, 1760, before Quebec, and soon after died at 
Montreal. The widow was chief of the tribe in 1766, and 
was visited by Captain Carver in that year, her father 
having probably died in the war. 

Equally unfortunate were the popular French colonial 
officers, who had explored and developed so much of the 
north-west, and had wielded a controlling influence among 
the red men for many years. We mark their fall in the 
thickest of the fight, from year to year, and when the war 
closed by the surrender of Canada, Lieutenant Charles De 
Langlade^ the half-breed Ottawa, almost alone survived, 
and was, by the Governor of Canada, September 3rd, 1760, 
ordered to take charge of and conduct the Canadians under 
his command to Mackinaw, and the Indians to their villages, 
and forward two companies of English deserters to Louisi- 
ana. Lieutenant De Langlade was the grandfather of the 
Grignons who, in the present century, have occupied promi- 
nent positions at Green Bay. 

The rule of the French in the north-west was mainly like 
that of the libertine over his mistress, — full of coquetry and 
smiles, and they were generally called by the endearing 
name of " good spirits." The advent of the French trader 
to an Indian village was a day of rejoicing. He smoked 
their pipe of peace, chanted their songs, joined in the festive 
dance, gave feasts to the chiefs, and took to wife their 
daughters. The Indian maidens emulated each other to be- 
come the trader's mistress, and be decorated with the gaudy 
trappings of civilization. The French Jesuit missionaries, 
with breviary and cross, who had then threaded every 
forest and navigated every river in the Mississippi valley, 
and had had thousands of converts among the different 




WA-KON-HA-KAW. 

(WINNEBAGO CHIEF.) 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 85 

tribes, generally left the country and returned to Europe on 
the fall of the Canadian government. 

The change of government could not restore the dead 
fathers to their thousands of weeping children, and their 
sorrowing mothers could only tell them that their fathers 
had been scalped by the merciless " Long-knives." The 
small-pox, a fatal disease to the Indians, had raged fearfully 
among many of the tribes. Trade for a time was nearly 
suspended for want of goods, and the Indian missed his 
powder and ball, to kill the game to feed his family. 

During the war, the English had been profuse in their 
promises to the Indians, as an inducement to take up the 
tomahawk against the French ; that their lands should be 
returned, and supplies furnished at a far less rate than was 
done by the French ; but, on the contrary, wrote Colonel 
Johnson, Indian agent, in June, 1761 : " Instead of restoring 
their lands, we are erecting more forts in many parts of the 
country, and goods are still so dear that their warriors and 
women are very uneasy, and apt to believe very bad reports 
concerning the intentions of the English." 

The French of Louisiana, who were very anxious to turn 
the channel of the Indian trade in that direction, and had 
continued to hold possession of the Illinois, industriously 
circulated among the Indians every damaging report pos- 
sible against the English ; and to give point to the charge 
of sinister motives of the English in erecting forts in the 
Ohio valley, alleged that it was the intention of the English 
to take the Ohio valley from the Dela wares, Senecas, Shaw- 
nees, Miamies, and other tribes that then inhabited it, and 
give it to the Cherokees, who were friendly to the English, 
but with whom the Ohio Indians were at war. 

To encourage the Indians to take up the war hatchet 
against the English, war belts were freely circulated by the 
French among the Indians during the winter of 1762-3, 
with a statement that early in the spring the King of France 
was coming with a great army to recover possession of 



86 TIPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Canada, and inviting the Indians to anticipate their father 
by capturing all the English forts in the country. There is 
reason to believe that these were not idle, gossiping stories 
of the French, but that there was a serious disposition 
among many of the Canadians to revolt, and, with the 
assistance of France, to gain their former position. In 1762 
England had refused to ratify a treaty of peace with France, 
and the latter nation had formed an alliance with Spain, 
and many in the colonies thought that France might, with 
the help of Spain, regain her Canadian possessions. Several 
memorials were addressed to the King of France to that 
effect, by prominent Canadian officers in the late war, but 
fortunately, perhaps, for them, the belligerent nations finally 
ratified a treaty of peace, February 10th, 1763, by which 
the French ceded Canada to England, and Louisiana to 
Spain, thereby terminating their possessions in North 
America. 

But the poor Indians, buried in the depths of the primeval 
forests of the great west, knew nothing of the intrigues of 
the vacillating courts of Europe. Intent on the point of 
serving the French, ridding themselves of their hateful 
enemies, and revenging the murders still often perpetrated 
on them by the licentious soldiers, traders, and pioneers on 
the frontier settlements, unwittingly went on perfecting 
their leagues, and finally commenced an attack on all the 
English forts in the north-west. 

Pontiac, a chief of a roving band of the Ottawas, then 
near Detroit, who had distinguished himself at the defeat 
of General Braddock in 1755, and at several other battles 
during the French wars in America from 1746, became the 
leading chief, and, assisted by the French, planned a simul- 
taneous surprise of the English posts. Mackinaw, Miami, 
Presque Isle, Ouiatenon, St. Josephs, Sandusky, La Boeuf 
and Venango, were taken, and the most of the garrisons tom- 
ahawked. Detroit, the most important post in command of 
the English, was reserved by the cunning chief, on which 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 87 

to exercise his own prowess and stratagem ; but failing to 
keep to himself his plan of surprise, it was disclosed to 
Major Gladwin, the commandant of the post, by a friendly 
squaw, and by that means saved from surprise and capture. 
Pontiac laid siege to the fort, but failed to reduce it. The 
Indians also laid siege to Fort Ligonier, Bedford and Lou- 
don, of Pennsylvania, and Cumberland, of Maryland, and 
devastated the country about Fort Pitt. Nearly all the 
English traders among the Indians were plundered and 
massacred, and raiding parties sent against the frontier set- 
tlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia, with murderous 
effect. 

The usual errors in dates have occurred among historians 
relating to this war, but Bancroft has collected them with 
considerable accuracy, and dates the commencement of the 
siege of Detroit, May 9 ; the capture of Sandusky, May 6 ; 
of St. Josephs, by a party of Potowatomies from Detroit, 
May 25 ; Miami, May 27 ; Fort Ouiatanon, near Lafayette, 
Indiana, June 1 ; Mackinaw, June 2 ; Presque Isle, June 
22; and Le Boeuf, June 18. 

Authors have generally enumerated Green Bay among the 
list, but Lieutenant Gorell, who commanded there when 
notified of the capture of Mackinaw, voluntarily abandoned 
that fort, and was guarded by the tribes about the Bay, 
who were friendly to the English, far on his way towards 
Montreal, to a place of safety. 

It has also been customary to include the Sacs and Foxes, 
and other Indians of the Bay, as hostile to the English, and 
as having joined Pontiac's confederacy, but facts do not 
well sustain the allegation ; on the contrary, they received 
presents from Sir William Johnson for their fidelity to the 
English. The Sioux, instead of joining Pontiac, offered Sir 
William Johnson 5,000 warriors to assist him in destroying 
the confederates. Neither did the Illinois Indians, nor the 
Chippeways of Lake Superior, become members of the 
Pontiac confederacy. The confederacy might be said to 



88 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

include a few Ottawas and Chippeways about Mackinaw, 
and to have extended to Lake Ontario and the Ohio river, 
including the Ottawas, lower Chippeways, Hurons, Miamies, 
Kickapoos, Potowatomies, Shawnees, Delawares, and the 
Geneseo band of the Senecas. 

Soon after the war commenced, the Indians of Canada 
sent a message to their hostile brethren, notifying them that 
peace had been established between France and England ; 
that the King of England had now become their father, and 
advising peace. Sir William Johnson held a treaty with the 
Six Nations, reconciled the Senecas, and sent parties of the 
Six Nations against the Delawares, which made some cap- 
tures, and broke up the confederacy, the Delawares suing 
for peace. 

In the mean time, Le Neyon de Villiere, the French com- 
mandant at Fort Chartres, in Illinois, sent belts and a pro- 
clamation, addressed to twenty-five nations, notifying them 
that the French had surrendered Canada ; that peace was 
established ; that the French were retiring west of the Mis- 
sissippi, and advising peace. This message reached Pontiac 
at Detroit, the last day of October, 1763, and the next 
morning he sent overtures of peace to Major Gladwin, who 
notified the chief that he had no power to conclude a peace, 
but would refer it to General Gage. This was satisfactory 
to the chief, and the savages dispersed to their hunting- 
grounds, and the fort was relieved of its long and painful 
siege. 

General Gage, early in 1764, dispatched an order to Major 
Gladwin, at Detroit, that if the western Indians were desir- 
ous of peace, to send them to Niagara, where they would 
be met by Sir William Johnson, the Indian agent, and a 
peace concluded. Consequently, over 2,000 Indians assem- 
bled at Niagara by the 25th of August, 1764, containing 
delegations from the Hurons, Senecas, Ottawas, Chippe- 
ways, Menominies, Foxes, Sacs, Winnebagoes, and some 
tribes from the north of Lake Superior. They were met by 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 89 

Sir William Johnson, with about 600 friendly Indians, and 
Colonel Bradstreet, with an army designed for the west. 

Treaties were formed with the Huron s and Senecas, but 
the balance of the tribes brought certificates from Major 
Gladwin and others, that they had not joined in the war 
against the English, except some individuals who had left 
the tribes for that purpose, but had continued friendly to 
the English. Colonel Johnson reported that he " admitted 
them into the covenant chain of friendship, on their agree- 
ing to the re establishment of Mackinaw, and promising to 
get all prisoners out of the enemy's hands, as also to pro- 
cure some restitution for the traders' losses ; all which they 
engaged to perform." 

Colonel Johnson also reported that " the Indians who did 
not attend at Niagara, were, I believe, doubtful of our 
sincerity, but they now seem desirous to make terms of 
concession," etc. ; and that " Pontiac is, with some of the 
most obstinate, as yet in the Miami's country, near the west 
end of Lake Erie, but has sent to desire peace, and I believe 
is only apprehensive for his security and that of those with 
him, otherwise he would have attended the congress." 

Colonel Bradstreet left for Detroit with his army, took 
the responsibility to treat with some of the Indians, to the 
great disgust of Colonel Johnson ; and finally returned a 
part of his army in the fall in bad condition. Colonel Bou- 
quet, in command of a small body of forces, left Fort Pitt, 
and penetrated the heart of the Delaware and Shawnee 
country ; obtained over two hundred prisoners, and brought 
back hostages that they would go to Colonel Johnson and 
conclude a treaty. In May, 1765, the Delawares visited 
Colonel Johnson, and settled their difficulties by treaty ; 
and the Shawnees followed their example, July 9th ensuing. 

May 15, 1765, Colonel Croghan set out from Fort Pitt 

with a party to visit the Illinois and take the surrender of 

the posts in that region from the French, but they were 

taken prisoners on the way by the Kickapoos and Masco- 

6* 



90 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

tens, taken to Post Vincent, and from thence towards the 
Illinois, when Colonel Croghan met Pontiac, and returned 
with him to Detroit, where he arrived with that chief, 
August 17th. Here peace was concluded with the balance 
of the hostile Indians, to the general satisfaction of all 
parties ; and Pontiac declared that he and the Indians had 
been imposed upon by the French for the purpose of obtain- 
ing the beaver, and called it the " beaver war," and sent his 
pipe to Colonel Johnson. 

Captain Sterling, with a small detachment of troops, took 
possession of Fort Chartres in the Illinois, in October, 1165, 
without opposition ; and finally, Pontiac, in July following, 
with several south-western chiefs, visited Colonel Johnson 
at Oswego, settled all differences, and in his closing speech, 
Pontiac eloquently remarked : " Father, it will take some 
time before I can make known to all the nations what has 
passed here, but I will do it even from the rising of the sun 
to the setting, and from north to south." 

Pontiac was a chief of more than ordinary ability, as well 
as business capacity, and constantly kept two secretaries, 
one to read his letters, and the other to write. Colonel 
Croghan, who was with him for some weeks, said of him 
that he " is a shrewd, sensible Indian, of few words, and 
commands more respect among all those nations than any 
Indian I ever saw could do amongst his own tribe." 

Some three years after the close of the war, and in 1767, 
this able chief was assassinated in Illinois by a Peoria 
Indian, for a reward of a barrel of rum from an English 
trader, to revenge which the Ottawas, Potowatomies, and 
some other tribes, are said to have nearly annihilated the 
whole band of Peorias. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, EROM 1764 TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 
WITH GREAT BRITAIN, IN 1815. 



The desire of revenge, with the Indian, terminates when 
the belt of peace is presented by the adversary and accepted, 
and the pipe passed ronnd and individually smoked by the 
dusky warriors ; and one who has been the greatest enemy, 
may safely pass through two lines of wigwams, without 
danger of insult or injury ; for their religion holds that an 
injury to an enemy of whom they have accepted the belt 
and the pipe, is an insult to the Great Spirit. But such is 
not the case with the white man of the frontier ; and ever 
since the first settlement of this country, there have been 
large numbers who have believed that the Indians, as 
heathens, had no rights which the white men " were bound 
to respect." 

After the conclusion of peace with the confederate tribes 
under Pontiac, the pioneers committed some of the most 
barbarous murders along the frontiers of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia, and it required many presents, and the greatest 
efforts of those in authority, to pacify the Indians, and save 
the country from a renewal of the war. 

Upon this subject, Colonel Johnson, the British Indian 
agent, wrote to his government as early as June 28, IV 66, 
that the war " was no sooner terminated at a considerable 
loss and expense, than the frontier inhabitants, from Virginia 
to this province (New York) (though they shewed but little 



92 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

alacrity at the time they ought), began, under the specious 
pretense of revenge, but in violation of the British faith, to 
murder, rob, and otherwise grossly misuse all Indians they 
could find in small parties, either on their way to or from 
the southward, or trading amongst them ; whilst those who 
avoided imbruing their hands in blood added fuel to their 
jealousy by encroaching upon their rights, and treating the 
Indians with contempt, much greater than they had ever 
before experienced. This has at length thoroughly con- 
firmed their opinion that we projected their ruin." 

Colonel Johnson, who had become well acquainted with 
Indian character, writes further, in the same dispatch: 
" Our people in general are very ill calculated to maintain 
friendship with the Indians ; they despise those in peace, 
whom they fear to meet in war. This, with the little arti- 
fices used in trade, and the total want of that address and 
seeming kindness practiced with such success by the French, 
must always hurt the colonists. On the contrary, could they 
but assume a friendship, and treat them with civility and 
candor, we should soon possess their hearts, and much more 
of their country than we shall do in a century by the con- 
duct now practiced." 

The encroachments upon the Indian rights increased from 
bad to worse, until 1774, when Captain Cresap, with a party 
near Wheeling, Virginia, murdered the whole family of 
Captain John Logan, a friendly chief of the Cayuga band 
of the Iroquois, who rallied his warriors and retaliated with 
fearful vengeance, until the fall of the year, when he was 
defeated in a battle at Point Pleasant, by 1,500 Virginians, 
and finally pacified by Lord Dunmore. It was at this treaty 
that Logan delivered the following speech, for which Presi- 
dent Jefferson has immortalized him, by quoting it in his 
"Notes on Virginia:" 

" I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered 
Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if ever he 
came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 93 

course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle 
in his cabin, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for 
the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, 
and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even 
thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one 
man, Colonel Cresap, the last spring, who in cold blood, 
and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not 
even sparing my women and children. There runs not a 
drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This 
called on me for revenge. I have sought it ; I have killed 
many ; I have fully glutted my vengeance ; for my country 
I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a 
thought that mine is the joy of fear; Logan never felt fear. 
He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there 
to mourn for Logan ? Not one." 

In this state of animosity were the western Indians at the 
commencement of our revolutionary war. Colonel William 
Johnson, the British agent, died July 11, 1774, and his son- 
in-law, Guy Johnson, was appointed by the king his suc- 
cessor. He had been in the Indian department for nearly 
twenty years, and was scarcely as humane as the Indians 
themselves, as subsequent events showed. The British 
government early determined to make allies of the Indians, 
to help suppress the rebellion in America, and, July 24, 
1775, the Earl of Dartmouth instructed Colonel Guy John- 
son that " the unnatural rebellion now raging there calls for 
every effort to suppress it; and the intelligence his majesty 
has received of the rebels having excited the Indians to 
take a part, and of their having actually engaged a body of 
them in arms to support their rebellion, justifies the resolu- 
tion his majesty has taken, of requiring the assistance of his 
faithful adherents the Six Nations. It is therefore his ma- 
jesty's pleasure, that you do lose no time in taking such 
steps as may induce them to take up the hatchet against his 
majesty's rebellious subjects in America, and to engage 
them in his majesty's service, upon such plan as shall be 



94 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

suggested to you by General Gage, to whom this letter is 
sent, accompanied with a large assortment of goods for 
presents to them upon this important occasion." 

The colonial congress at Philadelphia, July 12th, 1775, 
determined to establish three departments of Indian affairs, 
the northern, middle, and southern ; the northern to include 
the Six Nations and all other tribes to the northward of 
them ; and that commissioners should be appointed, " with 
powers to treat with the Indians in their respective depart- 
ments, to preserve peace and friendship, and to prevent 
their taking any part in the present commotion." 

In the northern department the following commissioners 
were aj^pointed: Major General Philip Schuyler, Major 
Joseph Hawley, Mr. Turbot Francis, Mr. Oliver Wolcott, 
and Mr. Volkert P. Douw. 

Messrs. Douw and Francis met the Six Nations at German 
Flats, August 15th, 1775, acquainted them that twelve 
colonies had united, and invited the Indians to Albany, to 
hold a council, August 25th, of the same year. A general 
council was accordingly held at Albany, at which the 
Indians were told that "this is a family quarrel between us 
and old England. You Indians are not concerned in it. 
We don't wish you to take up the hatchet against the king's 
troops. We desire you to remain at home, and not join 
either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep." To which 
the Indians replied that Colonel Johnson, at Oswego, had 
also requested them to remain neutral, and they promised 
to follow the wishes of both parties in respect to neutrality. 

Colonel Johnson, however, stated in his dispatch to the 
British government, that he was " threatened with an 
attack from the colonists, and left for Ontario the last of 
May, at which place he held a council with the Indians 
soon after, " who agreed to defend the communication, and 
assist his majesty's troops in their operations." 

In the beginning of July, Colonel Johnson left for Mon- 
treal with two hundred and twenty Indians and tories ; and 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 95 

at the latter place, the last of that month, assembled 1,700 
Indians of the northern confederacy, who promised also to 
assist his majesty's troops. The Indians did some skirmish- 
ing that summer and fall, near St. Johns, and thirty-two 
officers and men of Colonel Johnson's department, and some 
of his Indians, assisted in the capture of Colonel Ethan 
Allen, three miles from Montreal, September 25th ^ but 
General Carlton, in command of Canada, refused to allow 
Colonel Johnson to send Indians south of Canada line, to 
the great disgust of Colonel Johnson and his Indian allies ; 
whereupon Colonel Johnson, to settle the limits of his com- 
mand, visited England with an Indian delegation the fol- 
lowing winter, and returned to Staten Island, New York, 
July 29th, 1776. During this year the Indians assembled 
in considerable numbers at Niagara and in Canada, but 
were little employed. 

The Indian campaign for 1777 was organized in Canada 
by Daniel Claus, the newly-appointed Indian agent for the 
northern department, by assigning the domiciliated Indians 
of Canada to the expedition of General Burgoyne, to 
advance up Lake Champlain, while the Six Nations and 
western Indians joined the expedition of General St. Ledger, 
which advanced into western New York, and laid siege to 
Fort Stanwix. 

Soon after the commencement of the siege, General 
Ledger, hearing of the advance of General Herkimer for the 
relief of the fort, sent forward a large force of soldiers and 
all the Indians, and waylaid General Herkimer on the 6th 
of August, entirely defeating his force, with the loss of 
General Herkimer and over 400 of his troops. In the mean 
time a sortie was made from the fort, which captured the 
entire Indian baggage and most of their clothes, as the 
Indians had gone to attack General Herkimer nearly naked. 
This so discouraged the Indians that they fell off by degrees, 
and General St. Ledger hearing of General Arnold's force, 
which was coming to the relief of the fort, retreated to 



96 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Oswego, from which point General St. Ledger, on the 26th 
of August, was ordered to join General Burgoyne, which 
closed the western campaign. General Burgoyne, still 
more unfortunate, was forced to surrender his entire army, 
October 17th, at Saratoga. 

At the close of the campaign of 1777, a special effort was 
made by the Indian agents to rally the north-western 
Indians for the following year, for the British service. 
Captain De Peyster, the commandant at Mackinaw, secured 
the services of Charles De Langlade, of Green Bay, and 
many other popular Indian traders; and a considerable 
force of all the Wisconsin and other north-western Indians 
was sent to Oswego, and the sequel may be found in the 
dispatch of Colonel Guy Johnson, the Indian agent, of 
September 6th, 1778, where he says: "Your lordships 
will have heard before this can reach you, of the successful 
incursions of the Indians and loyalists from the northward. 
In conformity to the instructions I conveyed to my officers, 
they assembled their force early in May, and one division, 
under one of my deputies (Mr. Butler) proceeded with 
great success down the Susquehanna, destroying the posts 
and settlements at Wyoming, augmenting their number with 
many loyalists, and alarming all the country; whilst another 
division, under Mr. Brandt, the Indian chief, cut off two 
hundred and ninety-four men near Schoharie, and destroyed 
the adjacent settlements, with several magazines from 
whence the rebels had derived great resources." 

This victory is known over the civilized world as the 
" Wyoming Massacre," and being specially directed and 
controlled by the British officers and British troops, who 
were known to have been more savage than the Indians 
themselves, the English people should never thereafter com- 
plain of Indian cruelty. 

It was after the close of this barbarous campaign, that 
Governor Haldimand, of Canada, presented Cha-kaw-cha- 
ka-ma, or the Old King of the Menominie Indians, a medal, 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 97 

with the date of August 17, 1778, which has been deposited 
in the cabinet of the Historical Society of Wisconsin. 

During this year, Colonel G. R. Clarke, with a force from 
Virginia, captured the Illinois country ; and during the fol- 
lowing winter, Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, 
planned an expedition for its recovery. For that purpose, 
their Indian allies were again summoned with the " war 
belt " to meet in council at L'Arbre Croche, to go again on 
the war-path. Again, Captain De Peyster, the commandant 
at Mackinaw, rallied his Indian traders, and De Langlade 
and others sang the war-song, danced the war-dance, and 
distributed the fire-water, and in due time the bold warriors 
of Wisconsin and Michigan were on their way to attack the 
" Long-knives /" but when they reached St. Josephs, at the 
head of Lake Michigan, they learned with sorrow that 
Colonel Clarke had turned upon his pursuers, and Governor 
Hamilton and his soldiers were prisoners of war, in the 
hands of the " Long-knives." Upon this the war party 
returned home. 

Early in 1779 large bodies of Indians assembled in the 
heart of New York, under the deputy agent, Mr. Butler, for 
the purpose of reenacting the " Wyoming Massacre " on the 
western frontier, but were attacked by General Sullivan with 
nearly 5,000 American troops, driven to Canada, and forty 
Indian villages burned, and the Indian country laid waste. 
The exasperated Americans took no prisoners, but warriors, 
squaws, papooses and loyalists were alike fortunate in find- 
ing a common grave. Late in the fall, Colonel Guy Johnson 
attempted to make another Indian campaign, but was de- 
layed by a storm on the Lake, and finally stopped by orders 
to go into winter quarters. This order found on the hands 
of Mr. Johnson, as he wrote, November 11, 1779, 2,628 
Indians, whose country was devastated, and who must be 
supported at the public expense. 

In the spring of 1780 Colonel Johnson colonized many of 
his Indian allies on the " route to Ohio," where they could 
7 



98 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

"plant," and thereby greatly lessen the government ex- 
penses. During this year and the following, he carried on 
the " Petite Guerre " warfare against the western frontier, 
" which," he ivrote, " has compelled the latter (rebels) to 
contract their frontier, and confine themselves within little 
forts." During these two years, Colonel Johnson appears 
to have had of the New York and Canada Indians all that 
he could feed and employ, and we find no evidence that he 
called down the north-western tribes. 

The campaign of 1781, and the surrender of Cornwallis 
October 19, of that year, virtually closed the war, and 
quieted the fears of the mothers and children along our 
extensive frontier of nearly 3,000 miles, which for seven 
years had echoed with the merciless war-whoop of the 
Indian, and the more savage counterfeit of the tories. 

The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the 
United States, signed September 3, 1783, did not adjust the 
differences between the United States and the various 
Indian tribes, which had grown out of the revolution ; and 
the British, more bold than the French after the surrender 
of Canada, refused to yield up to the United States the 
western military posts, and reenacted the Pontiac conspir- 
acy. The new chief around which the Indians rallied was 
Michikinigua, or the " Little Turtle," the head chief of the 
Miamies. Colonel John Johnson, one of the leaders of the 
Iroquois of New York, during the revolution, was made 
Indian agent, and Major Matthews commandant at Detroit; 
and that post became the central rendezvous for Brant and 
other leaders of the Iroquois, who had displayed such fear- 
ful barbarity during the late war, and who had been colon- 
ized in Ohio and Canada. Here was organized, by British 
advice, the new Indian confederacy, composed of the 
Hurons,Delawares, Shawnees, Miamies, Kickapoos,Ottawas, 
Chippeways, Potowatomies, and Iroquois, under the nominal 
leadership of " Little Turtle," although, in fact, the British 
not only directed the movements of the confederacy, but 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 99 

furnished the Indians an abundance of arms and ammuni- 
tion. 

A grand council of this confederacy was held at the mouth 
of Huron river, a little below Detroit, in December, 1786, 
and another soon after, in which the Indians, under British 
advice, insisted on the Ohio river as the old boundary line, 
notwithstanding they had allied themselves against the 
United States, and been defeated in the revolutionary war. 

The north-western territory had been organized by Con- 
gress, July 13, 1787, and Major-General Arthur St. Clair 
was appointed Governor of the territory in October follow- 
ing. He made great exertions to pacify the Indians, and 
drew part of the Indian confederacy to make a treaty Jan- 
uary 9, 1789, at Fort Harmer, but it was repudiated by the 
confederacy, and consequently no further attention was paid 
to its provisions. Governor St. Clair finally, believing that 
no peace could be established until the Indians were de- 
feated, and the British forced to show their hands in their 
Indian intrigues, July 15, 1790, in pursuance of an order of 
the President, of the previous 6th of October, called on 
Virginia for 1,000, and Pennsylvania for 500 militia, to 
cooperate with the few regular troops on the Ohio, in sup- 
pressing the Indian hostilities. 

These forces advanced upon and burnt several Indian 
villages, and a large amount of corn in October of the same 
year, but two of its detachments were defeated by the 
Indians, and the army returned to Fort Washington at Cin- 
cinnati. This expedition only exasperated the Indians, and 
they renewed their murders with greater violence. 

The following year Governor St. Clair, having been ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief of all the forces sent against 
the Indians, detached General Charles Scott, of Kentucky, 
to advance on the Indians upon Wabash river, where in 
June he took several prisoners, and burned a large quantity 
of corn and the village of " Ouiatanon," in which were 
several well-built French residences. Colonel Wilkinson 



100 TTPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 

was then sent with another expedition higher up the Wa- 
bash, and reached the mouth of Eel river on the 7th of 
August, where he burned a village, cut up a large quantity 
of corn, and took a few prisoners. 

Governor St. Clair, having collected together his main 
army, numbering over 2,300, advanced from Fort Washing- 
ton September 17, 1791, and reached a branch of the 
Wabash with only about 1,400 men. Here, on the 4th of 
November, he was boldly attacked by the confederate forces, 
and completely defeated with great loss. The fugitives 
retreated to Fort JeiFerson, twenty-nine miles distant, which 
they reached before dark of the same day, the Indians hav- 
ing pursued them only four miles. 

Nearly two years, following this defeat, were spent in 
fruitless negotiations with the Indians, and at last, August 
13, 1793, at a general council held atMaumee, they decided 
that their ultimatum boundary line was the Ohio river. 

Some years after this council, the notorious Brandt, who 
had advised that council to conclude a peace with the 
United States, said that such a treaty " was opposed by 
those acting under the British government, and hopes of 
further assistance were given to our western brethren, to 
encourage them to insist on the Ohio as a boundary be- 
tween them and the United States." The Governor of 
Canada was evidently laboring under the impression that by 
holding on to Detroit, and fomenting the Indian war, the 
United States would, in the end, vary the treaty of 1783, 
and extend the British possessions to the Ohio river ; and 
he carried that impression in his address to the Indian dele- 
gates in February, 1794; but in this he was bound to be 
disappointed. 

In the spring of 1794 a new enemy of the United States 
appeared, from the Spanish settlements of the Mississippi, 
offering the aid of Spain to the Indians, if they would con- 
tinue their war against the United States. Thus advised 
and led on by the crafty, civilized nations of Europe, the 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 101 

poor, ignorant red man renewed the war-whoop, and rushed 
forward to inevitable destruction. General Anthony Wayne, 
the hero of Stony Point, was appointed to succeed General 
St. Clair over the western troops, and spent the winter of 
1792-3 in drilling his troops at Legionville, and moved 
down to Fort Washington, in May, 1793, where he spent the 
summer of that year. Having received news of the failure 
of the commissioners to negotiate a peace, he left Fort 
Washington, October 7th, and on the 13th of the same 
month encamped six miles in front of Fort Jefferson, and 
named his camp Fort Greenville, where he spent the winter. 
During the winter and spring of 1794, General Wayne 
erected Fort Recovery on St. Clair's battle-ground, buried 
six hundred skulls found on the ground, and made every 
proper arrangement for the summer campaign. 

" Little Turtle" opened the campaign by attacking Fort 
Recovery, June 30th, with some 1,500 warriors and some 
British volunteers, but was finally driven off. July 26th, 
General Scott arrived from Kentucky with a reinforcement 
of 1,600 mounted militia, and in two days thereafter, Gen- 
eral Wayne commenced his advance, and, on the 20th of 
August, met the Indians in force on the north bank of the 
Maumee river. The Indians were formed in three lines, 
with their left resting on the river, and right extending two 
miles, at right angles with the river, to a very thick brush- 
wood. 

General Scott was ordered to charge the Indians' right 
flank, and Captain Campbell the left, while the infantry, 
with trailed arms, were ordered to rouse the Indians from 
their coverts with the bayonet, and then deliver their fire as 
the Indians retreated. Such was the impetuosity of the 
charge of the infantry, that but part of General Scott's 
mounted force could get in position so as to take part in 
the battle. In one hour, the entire Indian force was driven 
two miles, and their defeat was complete, leaving the 
ground strewed with dead bodies, among which were found 



102 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

many Canadians, armed with British muskets and bayonets. 
About seventy of the Canadian militia were in the battle 
with the Indians. This battle was fought in sight of the 
new British fort, and the American troops burned the 
houses and stores belonging to the Indians and Canadians, 
as well as the house and store of McKee, the British agent, 
under the guns of the fort. This was the severest defeat 
ever received by the western Indians. After this battle, 
General Wayne laid waste the Indian country, and retired 
to Fort Greenville, to winter quarters. 

Governor Simcoe, of Canada, knowing that the Indians 
would probably sue for peace after so severe a defeat, 
sought to forestall peace negotiations, by calling a coun- 
cil on the 10th of October of the same year, at which he 
urged the Indians to still insist on the Ohio river as the 
boundary line, and advised them to convey their lands to the 
king, so as to give the British a pretext for assisting them, 
and accompanied his advice with promises of large presents; 
but the Indians were divided in council as to the proper 
course for the future, and finally, on the 24th of January, 
1795, the preliminary terms were agreed upon by a large 
delegation, who met General Wayne at Fort Greenville. 

The new treaty between the United States and Great 
Britain was signed by Mr. Jay and others, November 19th, 
1794, and finally ratified by the president, August 14th of 
the following year, by which the British agreed to surrender 
the north-western posts to the United States. 

The British agents had continued to tamper with the 
Indians to induce them to renew the war, but the news of 
the treaty between Great Britain and the United States 
much abated their zeal, and the Indians finally assembled in 
great, numbers, and concluded a treaty with General Wayne, 
August 3rd, 1795, by which they agreed to surrender all 
prisoners, and consented to the following boundary line : 
" Beginning at the mouth of Cuyahoga river, and run thence 
up the same to the portage between that and the Tuscar- 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 103 

awas branch of the Muskingum ; thence down that branch 
to the crossing place above Fort Lawrence ; thence west- 
erly to a fork of that branch of the great Miami river, run- 
ning into the Ohio, at or near which fork stood Loromie's 
store, and where commences the portage between the Miami 
of the Ohio and St. Mary's river, which is a branch of the 
Miami which runs into Lake Erie ; thence a westerly course 
to Fort Recovery, w T hich stands on a branch of the Wabash ; 
then south-westerly in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to 
intersect that river opposite the mouth of Kentucke or 
Cuttawa river." 

The Indians also ceded to the United States the follow- 
ing tracts, viz. : "(1.) One piece of land, six miles square, at 
or near Loromie's store before mentioned. (2.) One piece, 
two miles square, at the head of the navigable water or 
landing on the St. Mary's river, near Girty's town. (3.) 
One piece, six miles square, at the head of the navigable 
water of the Au-Glaize river. (4.) One piece, six miles 
square, at the confluence of the Au-Glaize and Miauii rivers, 
where Fort Defiance now stands. (5.) One piece, six miles 
square, at or near the confluence of the rivers St. Mary's 
and St. Joseph's, where Fort Wayne now stands, or near it. 
(6.) One piece, two miles square, on the Wabash river, at 
the end of the portage from the Miami of the lake, and 
about eight miles westward from Fort Wayne. (7.) One 
piece, six miles square, at Outanon or old Weea towns, on 
the Wabash river. (8.) One piece, twelve miles square, at 
the British fort on the Miami of the lake, at the foot of the 
rapids. (9.) One piece, six miles square, at the mouth of 
the said river, where it empties into the lake. (10.) One 
piece, six miles square, upon Sandusky lake, where a fort 
formerly stood. (11.) One piece, two miles square, at the 
lower rapids of Sandusky river. (12.) The post of Detroit, 
and all the land to the north, the west, and the south of it, 
of which the Indians' title has been extinguished by gifts or 
grants to the French or English governments ; and so much 



104 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

more land to be annexed to the district of Detroit as shall 
be comprehended between the River Rosine on the south, 
Lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the general course 
whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of 
Lake Erie and Detroit river. (13.) The post of Michilli- 
mackinack, and all the land on the island on which that post 
stands, and the mainland adjacent, of which the Indian title 
has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or 
English governments ; and a piece of land on the main, to 
the north of the island, to measure six miles on Lake Huron, 
or the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and to 
extend three miles back from the water of the lake or strait ; 
and also the Island De Bois Blanc, being an extra and 
voluntary gift of the Chipewa nation. (14.) One piece of 
land, six miles square, at the mouth of Chikago river 
emptying into the south-west end of Lake Michigan, where 
a fort formerly stood, (lo.) One piece, twelve miles square, 
at or near the mouth of Illinois river emptying into the Mis- 
sissippi. (16.) One piece, six miles square, at the old 
Peorias fort and village, near the south end of the Illinois 
lake, on said Illinois river." 

The United States, by article fourth of the treaty, relin- 
quish to the Indians all their claim to lands from said 
boundary line to the Mississippi, except the following : 

" 1st. The tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres 
near the rapids of the Ohio, which has been assigned to 
General Clark, for the use of himself and his warriors. 

" 2nd. The post of St. Vincennes on the river Wabash, 
and the lands adjacent, of which the Indian title has been 
extinguished. 

" 3rd. The lands at all other places in possession of the 
French people and other white settlers among them, of 
which the Indian title has been extinguished as mentioned 
in the 3rd article ; and 

" 4th. The post of Fort Massac, towards the mouth of the 
Ohio. To which several parcels of land so excepted, the 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 105 

said tribes relinquish all the title and claim which they or 
any of them may have." 

This treaty, so important to the north-west, was signed 
by the number of chiefs and warriors of the different tribes 
as follows: Wyandots or Huron s, 10; Delawares, 14; 
Shawnees, 9; Ottawas, 7; Chippeways, 11; Potowatomies, 
of St. Josephs, 22, and of Huron 7 ; Miamies, 5 ; Eel river 
band, 1 ; Weeas, for themselves and Piankaskias, 3 ; Kick- 
apoos and Kaskaskias, 3 ; Delawares, of Sandusky, 3. In 
the treaty at Fort Harmar in 1789, by a part of these tribes, 
the Sacs were named, but none were named in the treaty 
of General "Wayne. 

It has been customary for authors to name all the Wis- 
consin Indians as belonging to this confederacy, but I find 
no evidence that the Winnebagoes, Menominies, Foxes, 
Sioux or Chippeways, of Lake Superior, took any definite 
part, although a few individuals of each tribe might have 
done so ; but as the war between the Chippeways of the 
north, and the Sioux and their allies, the Sacs, Foxes, Win- 
nebagoes, and Menominies of the south, was then raging, it 
is quite probable that the Wisconsin Indians, strictly speak- 
ing, should not be regarded as belonging to "Little Tur- 
tle's " confederacy. Even the two Sacs who signed the 
treaty at Fort Harmar, were probably insignificant warriors, 
as their names do not appear in any subsequent treaties 
w T ith that tribe. 

The difficulties which were fomenting between England, 
France, and the United States, during the wars of Napo- 
leon, threatening every year to culminate in an open and 
bloody war between the United States on one side, and 
alternately with France or England on the other, tended to 
keep the partisans of the two latter nations, in the west, in 
constant communication with the various Indian tribes ; and 
in that intercourse, being further moved upon by the rivalry 
of trade, they neglected nothing which would prejudice the 
7* 



106 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Indians against the Americans, and prepossess them in 
favor of the English and French. 

Tecnmseh and his twin brother, Elskwatawa, of the 
Shawnee tribe, were the two who constituted themselves as 
the leaders, to regenerate their race ; — the former as war 
chief, and the latter as prophet. The plan of Tecumseh 
and his brother was certainly a good one to prejudice the 
Indians against the Americans, and in favor of both English 
and French, and was evidently generated in more civilized 
heads. 

The prophet preached that while the Great Spirit made 
the English, French, and Indians, that he did not make the 
Americans, but that the latter grew from the scum of the 
great salt water, when it was troubled by the evil spirit, and 
the froth was driven into the woods by a strong east wind ; 
and that the Great Spirit hates the Americans, as the chil- 
dren of the evil spirit. Among other things, the prophet 
taught the Indians that they must not give the Americans 
meat, nor sell them their land, and that each tribe must 
send two delegates to be instructed in the faith by the 
prophet, or else the tribe would be cut off from the face of 
the earth. All were positively prohibited from divulging 
the faith to the Americans, under the penalty of death. 

Thus, armed with the new religion and the tomahawk, no 
uncommon weapons in the civilized world, they commenced 
proselyting among all the tribes west to the Rocky moun- 
tains, and two old chiefs of the Delawares, and one of the 
Wyandots, were known to have been tomahawked by order 
of the prophet, for refusing to be converted. The new 
faith found converts among all the western tribes from 
about 1805 to 1811. 

The conduct of the Shawnees, and that of the prophet 
and Tecumseh, at their village at Tippecanoe, having 
alarmed the Americans, General Harrison, in the fall of 
1811, was ordered with 1,200 men to advance on the Shaw- 
nee town, to ascertain the purposes of the savages. On the 



TIIE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 107 

6th of November he encamped within one mile of the town, 
where he met a delegation of Indians, who promised to 
meet the General in council the next morning. An hour 
before daylight on the morning of the 7th of November, it 
being dark and rainy, the Indians suddenly attacked Gen- 
eral Harrison's army on all sides, and a fierce and bloody 
battle ensued ; but the Americans, having the advantage of 
position, steadily held their ground until after daylight, when 
the Indians were fiercely charged with the bayonet and the 
sword, and routed at every point. Unfortunately for the 
Shawnees, Tecumseh was absent at the time, not expecting 
so sudden an attack by General Harrison, and his shrill 
voice was not there to direct the movements of the over- 
ardent warriors. 

Thus prepared in advance for the war which was de- 
clared the following June against Great Britain, it required 
only the war-whoop to rally the thousands of fierce warriors 
to the deadly strife. Although war was declared the 18th 
of June, news of the declaration did not reach Governor 
Hull, at Detroit, until July 2nd, and not until some days 
after the news was possessed by the British at Maiden, in 
Canada, opposite Detroit; which enabled the British to 
capture General Hull's baggage on its way to Detroit. 

Colonel Robert Dickson, an old English trader at Prairie 
du Chien, and British Indian agent, had so well anticipated 
the progress of events, that with a large Indian force of 
Sioux, Winnebagoes, Menominies and others, he reached 
Mackinaw, and with some forces from the east, captured that 
post on the 17th of July, and communicated to Lieutenant 
Hanks, its commandant, the first news he had of the decla- 
ration of war. 

Go\ 7 ernor Hull, fearing a similar fate to the fort at 
Chicago, ordered Captain Heald to evacuate that post, and 
take his command to Detroit. Accordingly, that fort was 
evacuated on the morning of the 15th of August, but 
Captain Heald and his party were attacked by the Poto- 



108 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

watomies soon after they left the fort ; fifty men, women 
and children were killed, and the balance taken prisoners. 

After the capture of Mackinaw, Colonel Dickson returned 
to Green Bay, when he sent messages to other tribes, and 
among the rest, to the Sacs and Foxes at Rock Island, and 
to the Potowatomies, to collect parties and meet him at the 
Bay, and receive presents, guns and ammunition. 

The Sac chief, with two hundred warriors, reached the 
bay, was feasted and armed by Colonel Dickson, and 
appointed brigadier-general of the Indian forces. The fol- 
lowing day, Colonel Dickson, Black Hawk, and about five 
hundred warriors, started for Detroit by way of Chicago, 
and passed the latter place soon after the massacre of 
Captain Heald's party. Tecumseh commanded the Indian 
forces near Detroit, at the surrender of General Hull, 
August 16th, which numbered about seven hundred 
w T arriors. 

The north-western Indians continued in the British 
service, under General Proctor, in the region of Detroit 
and north-western Ohio, until the defeat of that general 
before Fort Stevenson, on the Sandusky river, August 1st, 
1813, when that general retired to Maiden, and the most of 
the north-western Indians, including Black Hawk, and 
about twenty of his Sac warriors, returned home disgusted 
with the service. The balance of the Indians, however, 
returned to Maiden under Tecumseh, and were finally 
defeated by General Harrison, October 5th of that year, at 
the battle of the Thames, where the brave Tecumseh and 
one hundred and thirty Indian warriors were left dead on 
the field. 

This serious defeat broke the Tecumseh confederacy, 
and, the following year, the most of the hostile bands of the 
Miamies, Delawares, Shawnees, Potowatomies, Ottawas, 
and Kickapoos, formed a treaty with the United States, in 
which they, among other things, " engaged to give their 
aid to the United States in prosecuting the war against 



THE INDIAN TKIBES, ETC. Ill 

Great Britain, and such of the Indian tribes as still continue 
hostile." It should be borne in mind, however, that many 
of the bands of the Senecas, Wyandots, Delawares, and 
Shawnees, never joined the Tecumseh confederacy, but 
fought throughout the war on the American side. 

In the summer of 1814, Major Holmes, with a small force 
of Americans, attended to recapture Mackinaw ; but news 
of the expedition reaching Colonel Dickson, who rallied a 
large force of Indians from Wisconsin, with some two 
hundred Sioux, and most of the Indian traders of Green 
Bay, whom he conducted to Mackinaw, and, with the 
British troops and traders at that place, successfully resisted 
the attack of the Americans ; and Major Holmes, and eleven 
others, were killed in the battle which ensued, on the 4th of 
August. 

Immediately after this affair, the Americans having 
taken possession of Prairie Du Chien, Lieutenant-Colonel 
William McKay, of the British forces, was dispatched with 
a few regulars, two companies of Mackinaw militia under 
Captains Rolette and Anderson, and one brass six-pounder, 
to recover that post. Colonel Dickson remained at Mack- 
inaw to defend the place, but detached two hundred Sioux, 
one hundred Winnebagoes, and some Foxes, to accompany 
the expedition to Prairie Du Chien. This force recruited 
at Green Bay one company of militia, seventy-five Meno- 
minies, and twenty-five Chippeways. The expedition 
passed the portage and down the Wisconsin in canoes and 
bateaux, and laid siege to the Fort at Prairie Du Chien, 
which contained about sixty American soldiers, July 17th, 
1814. After four days' siege, Lieutenant Perkins surrendered 
the fort ; but, in the mean time, the small gun-boat which 
contained the ammunition and most of the supplies, had 
escaped down the Mississippi. 

About the same time, Major Campbell left St. Louis with 
a force of United States troops, to reinforce Prairie Du 
Chien, but was attacked above Rock Island by Black Hawk 



112 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

with an Indian force; one boat was captured, several 
soldiers killed, Major Campbell and others wounded, when 
the expedition returned to St. Louis. Soon after this affair, 
some troops and cannon were sent from Prairie Du Chien 
by the British to Rock Island, with a considerable Indian 
force, to defend Black Hawk and his band from the attacks 
of the Americans. 

Major Zachary Taylor, with three hundred troops in 
boats, attacked Black Hawk, August 3rd, but were repulsed 
with some loss, and Major Taylor and his troops returned 
to St. Louis. 

The total defeat of the British at New Orleans, January 
8th, 1815, by General Jackson, and the ratification of a 
treaty of peace in February following, with Great Britain, 
again silenced the war-whoop in the Mississippi valley, and 
the great tide of immigration that rolled into it the few fol- 
lowing years, removed all serious fears of its repetition for 
some time to come. 

In the history of the Indian tribes in the north-west, set 
forth in the last three chapters, the reader will at once per- 
ceive that there was a constant rivalry between the govern- 
ments of Great Britain, France, and the United States, as 
to which of them should secure the services of the bar- 
barians, to scalp their white enemies ; while each in turn 
were the loudest to denounce the shocking barbarities of 
such tribes as they failed to secure in their own service ; 
and the civilized world, aghast at these horrid recitals, 
ignore the facts that nearly every important massacre in 
the history of North America, was organized and directed 
by agents of some one of these governments. 

The system of warfare in vogue among the Indian nations 
of North America at the discovery of the continent, was of 
the guerrilla kind, in which the friends of the deceased 
organized a raid against their enemies, to revenge their 
friends' death, and a few scalps were quite sufficient to 
satiate their anger. Hence we learn from Champlain, Mont- 



THE INDIAN TRIBES, ETC. 113 

calm, and Sir William Johnson, that it required all their 
arts of persuasion to keep their Indian allies in the field after 
their first skirmish; and to the civilization of European 
warfare are we indebted for the most of our serious mas- 
sacres. 

The fact that Indians often killed women and children in 
war, and murcered some of their prisoners afterwards, has 
been taken as evidence that the Indian nature was innately 
brutal, and they have ignored the facts that it is not a century 
since the British burnt New London, in Connecticut, and 
put the garrison of Fort Griswold to the sword; that 
Napoleon massacred 3,000 Turkish prisoners, and turned 
over the city of Joppa to be sacked by his soldiers, after he 
had promised the city protection if they would surrender ; 
while, still later, an organized confederacy of whites in the 
United States never repudiated the massacre at Fort Pillow, 
nor the starving of prisoners at Andersonville. We also 
ignore the massacre of nearly 2,000 Indians by Governor 
Kieft, of New Amsterdam, as early as 1645, in which not a 
woman or child was spared. 

With this chapter we pass the period in which the north- 
western Indians were used as " cats' paws" by rival govern- 
ments, and made subservient only to foreign interest ; and 
shall hereafter attempt to trace that under -current of 
Christian love, which often struggled for the mastery, but 
almost uniformly failed, from the effect of governmental 
power and interest. We here, also, take the opportunity to 
congratulate our readers that, after the close of the war of 
1812, we find a change in government policy; and, there- 
after, the government acting in harmony with the Christian 
interests, to improve the condition of the Indian race. 
8 



CHAPTER V. 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 



The nominal Christianity of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries was so interwoven with bigotry, politics, supersti- 
tion, and legerdemain, that the conscientious Christian of 
the present day at times doubts if Christianity then existed 
at all among the nations of Europe. To say the least, the 
stench of the blood then shed in the name of Jesus, is still 
offensive in the nostrils of all civilized society. 

Unfortunately for the new world, this Christianity crossed 
the ocean, associated with avarice of the nominal pilgrims ; 
and the untutored red man received his first lessons of 
Christianity from the same men that robbed his wigwam, 
and pillaged his corn and the graves of his ancestors. Even 
the pilgrims crossed the ocean to murder heretics; and, 
consequently, we find Melendez, of Spain, in 1564, the com- 
mandant of an expedition that murdered nearly -eig^fe . 
hundred Huguenots in Florida; and De Gourges, of Francej- 
in 1568 the commandant of an expedition that retaliated, by 
exterminating the Spaniards, and hanging two hundred of 
them on the trees. With little less of cruelty, Catholics, 
Episcopalians, Baptists, and Quakers could not be tolerated 
in Massachusetts, nor Protestants in Canada ; and. a man's 
life often poised on the thread whether he believed in tran- 
substantiation, predestination, immersion, or preaching for 
hire. But with all the faults attributable to nominal Christ- 
ianity, Jesus still reigned over his kingdom, which was 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 115 

" not of this world ;" and the seeds of true Christianity 
often germinated with vigor in the wilds of America. 

Long before the gentle and pious Elliot had won over the 
bold Mohegans to Christianity within ten miles of Boston, 
the adventurous Catholic missionaries had converted villages 
of Hurons, on the north-eastern shore of Lake Huron, and 
had even planted the cross at the Falls of St. Mary, at the 
outlet of the great Lake Superior. 

The English colonies in America were not planted for 
missionary purposes, but were designed more as a refuge 
for the persecuted non-conformists of England; and the 
main point for the consideration of the emigrant, was to 
make himself a home and a plantation, and secure the 
political power of the colony for his own protection against 
the mother country. But it was far different with the 
colonists of Quebec. Their religion was supreme in France, 
and they came to America to establish trade with the Indian 
tribes. Agriculture, on the frosty banks of the St. Lawrence, 
was but a secondary consideration ; hence, few became 
farmers, and the great majority plunged into the forests and 
became the adventurous courrier de bois. 

Sieur Champlain had only made a few treaties, and 
fought a few battles with the Indian tribes, before he sent 
to France for missionaries, and early in 1615 he procured 
three priests of the order of the Recollects, and commenced 
the missionary work at once. Although the primary object 
of the French colony was trade, yet Champlain soon found 
that it was no easy matter to successfully carry on trade 
with superstitious barbarians, and we may well believe that 
it was a happy idea when he conceived the project of Chris- 
tianizing the Indians, to protect his trade with them. Rev. 
Father Dennis Jamay took post at Quebec, John D'Olbeau 
hastened to Tadoussac to learn the language of the Algon- 
quins, and Father Joseph Le Caron was attached to Sieur 
Champlain's war party, then about to set out to explore 
Lake Huron. The party reached the lake by the Ottawa 



116 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

river of Canada, and while the priest was engaged in col- 
lecting a vocabulary of the Huron language, Sieur Cham- 
plain led an unsuccessful war party of the Hurons and 
Algonquins against the Iroquois of New York. The party 
returned to Quebec the following summer. In 1622, Rev. 
Father Poulain visited the Hurons, and some others from 
time to time thereafter, including the Rev. Father Brebeuf, 
until July, 1629, when the English took possession of 
Canada, and transported to England Sieur Champlain, the 
priests, and the principal men of the colony. 

Three years after, Canada was restored to France, and 
the task of converting the savages assigned to the " Society 
of Jesus," and the Recollects refused admission to Canada. 
This so grieved the zealous Le Caron that he died of disap- 
pointment early in the spring of the same year. 1633 found 
the Rev. Father Brebeuf, with several of his Jesuit associ- 
ates, returned to Canada, but unfortunately for them, the 
allied Hurons and Algonquins, during the absence of the 
French, had fought a great battle with the Iroquois of New 
York, and been badly defeated ; and becoming alarmed at 
their misfortunes, caused by their alliance with the French, 
the Hurons were unwilling that the Jesuits should go to the 
old missions on Lake Huron, and the Algonquins of Ottawa 
river positively refused the missionaries a passage through 
their country. Thus matters stood through the following 
winter ; but French diplomacy and presents again won over 
their old allies, and in 1634 the Rev. Fathers Brebeuf, 
Daniel, and Davost, planted themselves in the old mission 
on Lake Huron. They commenced their work with great 
zeal, but their former power was broken, and they met with 
great opposition from the medicine-men of the tribe. To 
add to their misfortunes, in the fall of 1636 the Rev. Fathers 
Gamier, Chatelain, and Jogues arrived as their assistants, 
but accompanying them came that terrible plague to the 
Indians, the small-pox. This disease raged with viru- 
lence for some years, and in 1637 the missionaries were 




FATHER ISAAC JOGUES, S.J. 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 119 

openly charged with producing this disease by witchcraft, 
for the destruction of the Indians ; and their cabins were 
burned by the infuriated savages, and the missionaries daily 
expected to be tomahawked, But Brebeuf having elo- 
quently defended himself and his brethren, before an Indian 
council in 1638, their principal accuser was tomahawked by 
his side, and the priests escaped. In the spring of 1639 the 
small-pox was brought in again, and the old charges revived 
against the priests, who suffered every thing but death from 
the savages. 

The missionary force having increased to thirteen priests, 
the following year they began to extend their field of labor 
to other tribes, and in the fall of 1641 the Rev. Fathers 
Isaac Jogues, and Charles Raymbaut, planted the cross at 
the falls of St. Mary, at the outlet of Lake Superior, in an 
assembled multitude of 2,000 Chippeways and other nations. 

From this time th\3 misfortunes of the missionaries began 
to accumulate. Fathers Raymbaut and Jogues returned to 
Quebee in the summer of 1T>42, where the former died with 
the consumption, October 22nd; and the latter, in attenuat- 
ing to return to Lake Huron, was captured by the Iroquois. 
He repeatedly ran the gauntlet, had his finger-nails torn 
out, and his hands and body otherwise mutilated by the 
Mohawks. The Dutch of Albany, hearing of his captivity, 
raised a volunteer fund, and sent an agent to redeem him, 
but the Indians would not let him go. Having visited 
Albany with his captors, he escaped to a vessel in the river, 
and the Dutch pacified the infuriated Indians for their loss, 
with presents, and the good Father was sent to France. 
Here he was received at Court, and the Pope, by a special 
dispensation, authorized him to say mass, notwithstanding 
his hands were mutilated. While at Albany, he wrote in 
elegant Latin a history of his captivity, and of New Neth- 
erlands, and sent to France, which was afterwards published. 
Having returned to Canada, and a temporary peace having 
been made with the Mohawks, Father Jogues, in 1646, 



120 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

returned to the Mohawks, was captured on the way thither 
by a war party, was defended by the Wolf band, decreed 
his liberty by the general council, but privately assassinated 
by some of the Bear band the same night, October 18, 1646. 

The Iroquois having obtained fire-arms of the Dutch, the 
war between them and the allied Hurons and Algonquins, 
inaugurated by Sieur Champlain as early as 1610, now 
burst upon the Huron country in all its power, and the 
Hurons and missionaries alike fell before grim-visaged war. 
From 1648 to about 1652, the allied Hurons and Algonquins 
were driven out of all the coasts of Lake Huron, and a part 
of the remnant took shelter in the dense and tangled forests 
of northern Wisconsin ; while the heroic and devoted 
Fathers Brebeuf, Lalamant, Daniel, and Garnier,with many 
of their neophytes, were massacred by the warlike Iroquois. 
A few only followed the surviving priests to Quebec ; but 
the greater part of those populous villages, estimated in 
1640 as containing 16,000 inhabitants, were either killed or 
taken prisoners. The most of the prisoners were adopted 
into the families of the Iroquois as slaves, many of whom 
were recognized and instructed by Catholic priests in sub- 
sequent years. 

Thus nearly perished the great Huron nation, by small- 
pox and war, which calamities were directly attributable to 
their contact and alliance with the French. For a time the 
north-west was closed against both Christianity and trade, 
but as events progressed, and Iroquois war parties. dimin- 
ished, flotillas of Indian canoes began to reach the trading- 
posts near Quebec by the north shore of Lake Huron, and 
the Ottawa river from the distant shores of Lakes Michigan 
and Superior. The missionaries sought the first opportunity 
to return with the Indians to their distant homes, and that 
opportunity offered in 1656. The Rev. Fathers Garreau and 
Druilletes, with a party of traders, left with the Indians for 
the north-west. The brutality of the Indians induced the 
traders to leave the expedition at the Three Rivers ; but the 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 121 

bold missionaries having gone on, the expedition was soon 
after attacked by a war party of the Iroquois, and the good 
Father Garreau mortally wounded and taken prisoner ; and 
Father Druilletes, having been abandoned by the Ottawas, 
returned to Quebec. 

Time chafed the pious hearts of the missionaries until 
1660, when sixty canoes arrived from the far-off Superior, 
and volunteers hastened to return with the Indians to their 
homes. Two good Fathers left with the returning expedi- 
dion, but one abandoned it at Montreal, having been turned 
out of the canoe by the "fantastic humor of one of the 
savages," but the other, Rev. Father Rene Menard, one of 
the survivors of the old Huron mission, was suffered to 
proceed. Writing to his superior under date of August 27, 
1660, Father Menard said: "In three or four months you 
may place me to the memory of the dead, as a consequence 
of the manner of life of these people, my age, and feeble 
constitution ; notwithstanding which, I have felt such pow- 
erful instincts, and I have seen in this business so little of 
nature, that I can not doubt that having failed to take 
advantage of this occasion, I should feel therefor an eternal 
remorse." 

The expedition took the usual route up the Ottawa river, 
thence to the Georgian bay, and along the north shore of 
Lake Huron to St. Mary, and thence along the south shore 
of Lake Superior to the Kewenaw bay, called by him St. 
Theresea Bay, where he arrived, October 15, 1660, after a 
long and fatiguing voyage of nearly seven Aveeks, in a bark 
canoe. Here for a time he was permitted to lodge with 
Pike, the chief of the band, but having offended the proud 
chief, he was turned out, and forced to construct a cabin of 
pine boughs, in which he spent the winter, and nearly 
perished with cold and hunger; and sustained life with 
pounded fish-bones and boiled moss. 

Learning that a remnant of the Hurons, his old acquaint- 
ances and friends, were located on the Black river in Wis- 
8* 



122 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

consin, he resolved to visit them at all hazards ; and June 
13, 1661, he set out with one Frenchman and some Huron 
guides to visit them. They passed the iron and copper 
mountains of the northern peninsula of Michigan, the barren 
regions of the head waters of the Wisconsin river, and 
reached a small lake at the head of Black river. Here the 
Huron guides left the Father and went forward, promising 
to send back assistance. He remained fifteen days, and as 
provisions failed and no help came, they found a canoe hid 
in the brushwood, and started down the river. The low 
stage of water, and the interminable rapids between Rock 
creek and Black river falls, made the navigation very 
tedious. At the last important rapid, which was probably 
the latter falls, the Father passed round on the bank 
through thick pines, while the assistant Frenchman took the 
canoe over the falls; after which, looking round for the 
Father, he was not in sight. Guns were fired, but he 
responded not, and was never afterwards heard from. Thus 
ended the life of the good Menard, about the 10th of August, 
after twenty-one years of missionary life among the Indians 
of North America. The following year some savages found 
his sack, and some of the furniture used in his chapel was 
seen in an Indian wigwam ; but none of them would ever 
acknowledge that they had seen his body, and it is very 
probable that he became bewildered in the thick pines, and 
wandering off, was devoured by the wolves or other wild 
beasts. 

For four years subsequent to the loss of Menard, the 
north-west echoed to no Christian song ; but Christianity 
lives although its disciples perish, and 1665 found the Rev. 
Father Claude Allouez impatiently waiting at the " Three 
Rivers," for an opportunity to follow the example of his 
predecessor, and plant again the standard of the cross on 
the inhospitable shores of the far-off Lake Superior. July 
20th, after the pious father had " said a mass devoted to this 
project, in honor of Saint Ignatius and Saint Xavier," he 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 123 

was greatly delighted at the arrival of a trading expedition 
of savages from Lake Superior ; and on the 8th of the fol- 
lowing month, he embarked with six French traders and 
four hundred savages for the west end of the lake, where 
they arrived at the great village of the Hurons and Algon- 
quins, at the head of Chagouamigong bay, October 1st, 
1665. Here he opened his mission and erected his chapel. 
Subsequently, he established other missions along the lake, 
and spent a month with the Chippeways at St. Mary, at the 
outlet of Lake Superior. 

In 1667 Father Allouez visited Quebec, tarried two days 
only, and returned to Lake Superior with Rev. Father Louis 
Nicholas, an assistant. The latter soon returned to Canada, 
and was succeeded by Rev. Father James Marquette and 
Le Bcesine, who came out in April, 1668, and were followed 
in the summer of 1669 by Rev. Claudius Dablon, as superior 
of the missions, who united his labors with Marquette in 
the work at Sault St. Mary. In September, Marquette 
relieved Allouez at Chagouamigong, at the mission of the 
Holy Ghost, and the latter returned to St. Mary. 

At the urgent request of some Potowatomies, who had 
got into difficulty with some French traders at Green Bay, 
the Rev. Father Allouez, left Sault St. Mary for the Bay, to 
establish a new mission. With two French companions 
and two canoes of Potowatomies, he set out on the 3rd of 
November, 1669, and after a perilous voyage, by reason of 
the lateness of the season, reached the traders, at the mouth 
of Fox river, December 2nd, on the eve of St. Francis 
Xavier. The next day he celebrated mass, at which six 
Frenchmen at the Bay joined in the devotions with the 
father and his two companions. 

During the winter and the following spring, he estab- 
lished the mission of St. Francis Xavier, near the mouth of 
Fox river, and visited and instructed the Winnebagoes, 
Menominies, Potowatomies, Sacs, Foxes, Miamis, Mas- 
cotens, Kitchigamicks, and Kickapoos, who then inhabited 



1 24 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the region around Green Bay, and the Fox and Wisconsin 
rivers. Indeed, the father went down the. Wisconsin to 
within a few miles of the Mississippi. On the 20th of May, 
1670, the father left the Bay, with one Frenchman, and 
returned to St. Mary. This summer the Rev. Fathers 
Gabriel, Druilletes, and Louis Andre, were added to the 
mission of the north-west. 

In the spring of 1671 the Hurons and Algonquins, at the 
mission of the Holy Ghost, having provoked a war with the 
Sioux, the latter nation sent back to Marquette the presents 
they had received from him, and declared war against the 
allied tribes. The consequence was, those tribes all left the 
country with Marquette, and the Hurons pitched their wig- 
wams on the Island of Mackinaw, and Marquette estab- 
lished the mission of St. Ignatius opposite the island, to the 
west on the mainland. The Algonquin nations generally 
stopped on the Manitoulin island of Lake Huron, where 
they came under the care of Father Andre. 

September, 1670, found Allouez and his superior, Dablon, 
on their way to visit the nations along Green Bay and the 
Fox and Wisconsin rivers. After this task was performed, 
Father Dablon, the same fall, returned to Quebec, where 
he had been appointed superior of all the Canada missions, 
and was succeeded, as superior of the north-western mis- 
sions, by Rev. Father Henri Nouvel. Andre was dispatched 
to Green Bay, to the assistance of Allouez. 

In June, 1673, Jolliet, with Father James Marquette, 
were dispatched by the authorities of Canada to discover 
and explore the upper Mississippi, which they reached by 
the Wisconsin river, June 17th, 1673. They then proceeded 
down the river as far as Arkansas, after which they returned 
by the Illinois river and Lake Michigan to Green Bay, 
where they arrived the last of September of the same year. 
During the absence of Marquette, he had visited the Indians 
at Kaskaskia, and promised to return and establish a mis- 
sion among them; but, unfortunately, during his journey 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 125 

he had contracted chronic diarrhoea, a disease which proved 
fatal to so many of our soldiers in the late rebellion, and 
was confined at Green Bay with this disease all the summer 
of 1674. 

Late in the fall, his disease abating, he attempted to return 
to Kaskaskia, but was compelled, by the revival of his 
illness, to spend the winter near Chicago, and only reached 
the tribe the following spring, the 8th of April. Although 
very weak, he set vigorously at work in instructing the 
Indians, and named the mission the " Immaculate Concep- 
tion of the Blessed Virgin." On Easter Sunday he cele- 
brated the mass in presence of the whole tribe, and soon after 
left to return to Mackinaw. He soon became so weak that 
he could not help himself, and finally died, and was buried 
by his kind companions on the eastern shore of Lake 
Michigan. His bones were subsequently removed to Mack- 
inaw. Father Marquette was evidently one of the best of 
men, and his memory will be ever fresh as long as civiliza- 
tion exists in the Mississippi valley. 

The Illinois mission having become vacant by the death 
of Marquette, the Rev. Father Allouez was assigned to that 
post. He left Green Bay the last of October, 1676, to go 
by way of Lake Michigan, but winter having set in imme- 
diately, they tarried by the way until February, when the 
ice became strong. They then put their canoe on the ice, 
and, raising sails, made progress down the bay and into a 
small bay that led to a portage to Lake Michigan. On the 
23rd of March, 1677, they embarked on the latter lake, and 
reached the Kaskaskia village, near Peoria, April 27th. 
Here he found a large village of three hundred and fifty 
cabins, and eight different tribes of the Illinois ; the Kas- 
kaskias having called in the dispersed tribes which had been 
scattered by the Iroquois war. 

The good father baptized thirty-five children and one 
adult, and on the 3rd of May, " in the name of Jesus Christ," 
took possession of all the tribes, and, a few days after, 



126 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

returned north. He visited them again in 1678, and re- 
mained two years, but abandoned the mission on the arrival 
of La Salle, a personal enemy of the Jesuits. 

Sieur La Salle reached the Indian village on the Illinois 
river in January, 1680, with three Recollect priests, and 
built a fort. In the spring he returned to Canada for sup- 
plies; and in September of the same year the Illinois 
Indians were attacked by the Iroquois, and the little French 
colony fled for Mackinaw. 

One of the priests, Father Gabriel, was killed by a strag- 
gling war party of Kickapoos ; one, Membre, reached the 
north safe, and one, Hennepin, having been dispatched to 
explore the upper Mississippi, also returned in safety to 
Green Bay, after a short captivity among the Sioux. La 
Salle and Father Membre returned to the Illinois in January, 
1682, and from thence proceeded on their way for the 
exploration of the lower Mississippi. 

Hitherto, the missions in the north-west had been com- 
paratively successful, but they at last began to feel the 
effects of the sale of brandy to the Indians, which was 
destroying them with great rapidity in the region of Mon- 
treal and Quebec. Previous to 1662, the Jesuit priests had 
proscribed the sale of intoxicating liquors to the Indians, on 
pain of excommunication, and had thereby nearly destroyed 
its sale ; but about this time the Governor of Canada inter- 
fered, and granted licenses. The Jesuits complained to the 
king, and the governor was removed in 1663. His suc- 
cessor, Sieur De Mezy, being distasteful to all parties, was 
continued in office but a few months, and was succeeded by 
Marquis De Talon, as viceroy, who took possession of the 
government of Canada in 1665. 

The minister in France, in his instructions to De Talon, 
dated November 15th, 1664, speaking of the prohibition of 
the sale of brandy by the Jesuits, remarked : " This is 
doubtless a good principle, but one which is very ruinous to 
trade, because the Indians being passionately fond of these 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 



127 



liquors, instead of coming to trade their peltries with us, go 
trade them among the Dutch, who supply them with 
brandy. This also is disadvantageous to religion. Having 
wherewith to gratify their appetites, they allow themselves 
to be catechised by the Dutch ministers, who instruct them 
in heresy. The said Bishop of Petrie and the Jesuit Fathers 
persist in their first opinions, without reflecting that pru- 
dence, and even Christian charity, inculcate closing the eyes 
to one evil to avoid a greater, or to reap a good more im- 
portant than the evil." According to these views, M. 
Talon, the minister of justice in Canada, wrote M. Colbert, 
the king's secretary, November, 1666, that he had ordered 
to the Indians, " among the rest, the use of liquor, which 
has been prohibited them up to this time." 

In 1668, the Rev. Father Pierron, a Jesuit missionary 
among the Mohawks, backed by the chiefs of the tribe, 
petitioned the Governor of New York for the suppression 
of the sale of intoxicating liquors to the Indians. The 
Governor, by letter of November 18th, 1668, acknowledged 
" the vast amount of liquors that some of Albany take the 
liberty to sell to the Indians, causing them thereby to 
commit excessive disorders," and declared that he had 
"adopted every possible precaution, and shall continue, 
by very certain fines, to restrain and prevent the supplying 
the Indians with any excess." These efforts to prevent 
" excess " in the sale of liquor to Indians, amounted to 
nothing definite. 

The Jesuits of Canada still used all the means in their 
power to suppress the traffic, and prevented all the inter- 
course possible with the Christian tribes near Quebec and 
Montreal, and finally, in 1679, they procured an edict from 
the king, which afforded them some temporary assistance ; 
but the governor and officials, more or less connected with 
the trade, neglected to enforce the edict, and brandy still 
composed a large item in every trader's outfit. 

In 1716, Rev. Father Lafitan presented a petition to the 



128 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Canadian council, for the abolition of the brandy trade, in 
which, among other things, he stated that, " When the peo- 
ple (Indians), are intoxicated, they become so furious that 
they break and destroy every thing belonging to their 
household; cry and howl terribly, and go in quest, like 
mad men, of their enemies, to poignard them ; their rela- 
tives and friends are not at these times safe from their rage, 
and they gnaw even their own noses and ears. 

" Disunion and the dissolution of their marriages are 
always the result of their debaucheries, in consequence of 
the sorrow and despair experienced by their wives on be- 
holding themselves robbed by their drunken husbands, who 
strip them of every thing in order to obtain drink, and the 
products of the chase, even, which belong to them, are taken 
away from their husbands by their creditors before arriving 
at their village. 

" These Indians, loaded with debt and despoiled by their 
creditors, who do not leave them even their guns, are often 
obliged to abandon the country and go over to the English, 
despairing of being able to pay their debts. 

" Several of their tribes have been almost wholly de- 
stroyed by brandy, particularly the Algonquin nation." 

In answer to this petition, the Canadian council "All 
agree as to the inconvenience of the trade in brandy, but at 
the same time it is necessary." So they refused to prohibit it. 

In October, 1729, the Governor of Canada writes the 
king that " The toleration his Majesty is pleased to enter- 
tain in favor of the distribution of brandy to the Indians, is 
so much the more necessary, as that liquor is the sole 
allurement that could attract and preserve them to us, and 
deprive them of all inducements to go to the English." 
Finally, in a dispatch from the King of France, of May 8, 
1731, to the Governor of Canada, the king says that he has 
" Been pleased to see that Sienr Hocquart does not perceive 
any impropriety in his Majesty tolerating the distribution of 
brandy to the Indians." 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 129 

The great success of the early Jesuit missions in the 
north-west, indicated an almost certainty of the conversion 
of the north-Western tribes to Christianity; but this success 
raised a rivalry and hostility that ultimately proved their 
ruin. Count De Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, com- 
menced hostilities on the Jesuits at an early date, and in his 
dispatch to the king, November 2nd, 1672, he remarked that, 
" To speak frankly to you, they think as much about the 
conversion of the beaver, as of souls ; for the majority of 
their missions are pure mockeries, and I should not think 
they ought to be permitted to extend them further until we 
see some where a better formed church of those savages." 

The enemies of the Jesuits had previously brought into 
Canada several of the Recollect priests, who had established 
a monastery. Sieur La Salle, a particular friend of the 
Governor, was also an enemy of the Jesuits, and took with 
him Recollect priests to the mission of Illinois. 

The hostility to the Jesuits was severely felt by the 
society, and they appealed to the king for leave to continue 
their north-western mission. The king, by M. Colbert, 
wrote to Governor De Frontenac as follows, May 17th, 1674 : 
"As to the request of the Jesuits, made to continue their 
missions in the far countries, his majesty thinks 'twould be 
more advantageous, both for the religion, and his service, if 
they attended to those more near, and whilst converting the 
Indians, led them to civilized society, and to abandon their 
manner of living, in which they can never become good 
Christians. His majesty, however, does not pretend that 
these good Fathers be in any wise circumscribed in their 
functions. He merely desires that you would communicate 
to them, and gently encourage them to second his majesty's 
views." 

These views were communicated to the Jesuits by the 

Governor, and November 14th, of the same year, the 

Governor wrote M. Colbert that the former "Declared 

to me that they were here only to endeavor to instruct 

9 



130 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the Indians, or rather, to get beaver, and not to be parish 
priests to the French." The Governor then urges the send- 
ing of more Recollects. But the opposition to the Jesuits 
thus early manifested, although it must have embarrassed 
them, yet did not stop their efforts to convert the north- 
west. When La Salle went down the Mississippi in 1684, 
Rev. Father Allouez, with Father Durantaye as an assistant, 
again took possession of his Illinois mission, and when the 
survivors of La Salle's expedition returned in 1687, and 
reported La Salle also returning, Allouez .retired to Green. 
Bay. After that the good Father opened a mission at St. 
Josephs, where he died in August, 1690. 

The success which at first had crowned the efforts of the 
missionaries under this opposition of the government, brandy, 
and the traders began to wane, and in a few years a few con- 
verts at each station was all there were left to encourage the 
despairing missionaries ; and when the French surrendered 
Canada in 1760, there were probably but two missionaries 
west of Detroit; and the suppression of the Jesuits in 1763 
by the king of France, it is said, left the north-west desti- 
tute of a resident Catholic priest for more than thirty years 
subsequent to that date. Indeed, as early as 1721, when 
the north-west was visited by Charlevoix, the missions had 
so far waned that he wrote : " The fathers are not much 
employed, having never found any great docility among 
the Ottawas." 

Mr. Shea, in his history of the Catholic missions in North 
America, has compiled the following tables of the names of 
the missionaries to the Hurons, Ottawas, and Illinois, which 
probably contain some errors, but are as near the truth as 
can be attained at the present day : 



THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 



131 



LIST OF MISSIONARIES, 



HURON MISSIONARIES. 



MISSIONARIES. 



Joseph Le Caron, Rec 

William Poulain, Rec 

Nicholas Viel, Rec 

Theodat Sagard, L. B 

Jos. de la Roche Daillon, Rec. . 

John de Brebeuf, S. J 

Anne de Noue 

Anthony Daniel 

Ambrose Davost 

Francis Lemercier 

Peter Pijart 

Charles Gamier 

Peter Chastellain 

Isaac Jogues 

Paul Ragueneau 

Jerome Lalemant, S. J 

Simon le Moyne 

Francis Duperon 

P. J. M. Chaumonot 

Joseph A. Poncet 

Charles Raymbaut 

Claude Pijart 

Rene Menard 

Leonard Garreau 

Natalis Chabanel 

Franc. J. Bressani 

Gabriel Lalemant 

Adrian Daran 

James Bonin 

Adrian Grelon 



May 
June 
June 
June 
1625. 
June 
July 
June 
June 
July 
July 
June 
June 
July 
June 
Aug. 
1688. 
1638. 
Aug. 
Aug. 
1687. 
July 
July 
Aug. 
Aug. 
1642. 
Sept. 
Aug. 
Aug. 
Aug. 



25, 1615. 
,1619..., 
28, 1623 , 
28, 1623 



19, 1625. 
14, 1626 . 
24, 1633. 
24, 1633. 

20, 1635 . 

10, 1635 . 

11, 1636. 
11, 1636. 
2, 1636 .. 
28, 1636. 
26, 1638. 



1, 1639. 
1, 1639. 



14, 1637 . 
8, 1640.. 

15, 1643. 
15, 1643. 



20, 1646- 
6,1646.. 
14, 1647. 
14,1647. 



ON MISSION. 



1615-16, 1623-24.. 
1622 

1623-25 

162:3-24 

1626-28 

1626-9, 34-41, 44-9 

1626-27 

1634-36, 163S-4S . . 

1634-36 

1635-50 

1635-44 

1636-49 

1636-50 

1636-42 

1637-4H), 1641-50 . . 

163S-45 

1038-50? 

1638-41 

1639-50 

1639-40, 1645-50 

1640-42 

1640-50 

1641-50 

1644-50 

1644-49 

1645-49 

1648-49 

1648-50 

1G4S-50 

164S-50 



1632 

k. July, 1625 
left in 1624 
left in 1629 
k. Mar. 16, 1649 
frozen Feb. 1,1646 
k. July 4, 1648 
d. at sea in 1643 
left after 1670 
left in 1650 
k. Dec. 7, 1649 
d. Aug. 14, 1683 
k. Oct. 18, 1646 
left Sept., 1666 
d. Jan. 26, 1673 
d. Nov. 24,1665 
d. Nov. 10, 1665 
d. Feb. 21, 1693 

d. Oct. 22, 1642 
d. after 1668 
k. Aug. 1661 
k. Sept. 1566 
k. Dec. 8, 1649 
left Nov. 2, 1650 
k. Mar. 17, 1649 
left in 1650 
left in 1650 
died in China 



OTTAWA MISSIONARIES. 



MISSIONARIES. 


ARRIVED. 


TIME ON Mli-SION. 


DIED. 


1 Isaac Jouges, S. J 


July 2, 1636 . . 

1637 

July 8, 1640 . . 
July 11, 1658 . 
May 25, 1663 . 
Sept. 20, 1666. 
1655 


1642 

1642 


k. Oct. 1646 
Oct. 22, 1642 




1660-61 

1665-89... 


k. Aug. 1661 
about Aug. 1690 






1667-68 
1668-75 . 




d. May 19, 1675 


7 Claude Dablon 


166S-71 

1669-79* 

1669-80 






9 Gabriel Druillettes 


Aug. 15, 1643. 
Aug. 4, 1662.. 
Aug. 23, 1649 . 
June 25, 1647. 
Sept. 25, 1667. 


d. April 8, 1681 




1671-1700* 

1678-88* 

1675-88* 

1675-81* 

1676-78* 






1 2 Peter Bailloquet 




13 Philip Pierson 




14 Anthony Silvy 





132 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



OTTAWA MISSIONARIES— (continued). 



MISSIONARIES. 


ARRIVED. 


TIME ON MISSION. 


DIED. 






1676-79* 

1678-88* 

16 -84 

1688+ 




















1706 






1688+-1703* 

1688+-1703* 

1700+-1712* 

1721-22 
1728-30 
1724 
1749-50 

till 1764 

1764 

1751+-81 




20 Stephen de Carheil 


Aug. 6, 1666.. 


July, 1726 




22 J. 13. Chardon 










































30 Peter Potier . . .'. 




d. July 16, 1781 









* And perhaps later. 



t And perhaps earlier. 



ILLINOIS MISSIONARIES. 



MISSIONARIES. 


ARRIVED. 


WHEN IN ILLINOIS. 


DIED. 




Sept. 20, 1666. 
July 11, 1658 . 
Aug. 1670 .... 
June, 1675.. .. 
June 16, 1672? 
Oct. 13, 1689 . 


1673-75 


May 19, 1675 
about Aug. 1690 
k. Sept. 19, 16S0 
k. 1686-7 
k. about 1706 




1677, 1679-87 

16^0 




4 Zenobius Membre 


1680 

1687-1706 




1691 92 


k. Aug. 23, 1724 
d. before 1712 




1700, 1703 

1700, 1703, 1712 
1700, 1703, 1712 
1700 


















d. before 1711 






1700 

1700 

1700, 1703, 1721 

1700, 1707, 1710 

1712 

1712-18? 




12- Bovie 






13 John B. Chardon 












15 Louis Mary de Ville, S. J 

16 Dominic Mary Varlet, F.M 




d. 1742 


1721 
1721 
1721 
1721 
1719 










19 de Beaubois 

20 J. C. Guymonneau 

21 G. Calvarin, P. M •. 






22 D. A. R. Taumur de la Source, ) 




1721 

1721 


d. April 4, 1731 

d. April 17, 1752 

k. 1730 

d. after Aug. 1750 


F.M.,ord. Feb. 1717 J 

23 John le Mercier, F. M.; ord. i 


■ 


May, 1718 j 

24 Senat, S. J 




1730 

1750 


26 A. F. X. de Guyenne 




1750 

1727 

1727 

1727-46 

1750 

1750 

on Ohio in 1757 
1763 








28 Dumas 


1727 




29 Tartarin 


1727 














d. after 1768 


32 Claude F. Virot 






33 Julian Duvernay 







THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 133 

The successful close of our American revolution, and the 
adoption of our constitution having established the freedom 
of conscience and emancipated the worship of God from 
the control of political power, a fruitful field was opened to 
the hundreds of Catholic priests, who had fled from France 
at the breaking out of the Jacobin revolution in that 
country. Arriving in this country, they naturally turned 
their attention to the villages of the old French and half- 
breeds of the Mississippi valley and Canada; and, at an 
early date, Rev. Father Gabriel Richard, a Sulpician, estab- 
lished himself at Detroit, who, in 1799, visited the Ottawas 
at Arbre Croche, where he found one Indian seventy-five 
years old, who had been baptized, probably by Du Jaunay, 
the last of the old Mackinaw missionaries. This Indian and 
a few traditions were all that was left,, so far as could be 
ascertained, of the several flourishing missions that in the 
olden time had existed along the shores of Lake Huron. 

Several years passed before the Ottawas of Arbre Croche 
received another visit from a Catholic priest ; but the Epis- 
copal see of Cincinnati having been erected, and Michigan 
attached to it, it was determined that the Ottawas of that 
locality should have a priest, and Father Richard was sent 
in 1821 to visit them again. Again the Indians asked for 
a priest, and in July, 1825, Rev. J. V. Badin visited Arbre 
Croche, Drummond island, Mackinaw, Sault St. Mary's, and 
Green Bay. In 1826, Father Richard induced the secretary 
of war to pay two-thirds the expense of buildings, and twenty 
dollars per scholar instructed, and by this pecuniary assist- 
ance, was enabled to establish a regular mission and school 
at Arbre Croche, which was opened the following year, 
under the charge of Rev. Father De Jean, and two Catholic 
ladies from Mackinaw. In the mean time, Assaguinac, an 
educated Indian from Canada, of some prominence, settled 
at Arbre Croche, who catechized the Indians, taught them 
hymns, and thus prepared twenty-one for baptism on the 
arrival of De Jean. The priest, however, did not remain 



134 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

there permanently until 1829. In 1830 he had received six 
hundred into the church, and his school for boys and girls 
contained sixty-four pupils. As a consequence, intoxication 
was banished from the village. They had also erected a 
house, forty-six feet long and twenty wide, for their school, 
and a church fifty-four by thirty feet. The complete success 
of this mission encouraged the Catholic church to make a 
systematic effort to restore the missions to the different 
Indian tribes, and the Chippeways, Menominies, Potowa- 
tomies, and Kickapoos, along the lakes, received mission- 
aries, who often came in collision with Protestant mission- 
aries, and government was often appealed to on both sides 
for protection and assistance. The further progress of the 
Indian missions will be noticed when speaking of individual 
tribes. 

The most prominent of the present Jesuit missionaries, in 
the north-west, is Rev. Father De Smet, who became a 
missionary to the Flatheads, on the upper Missouri, in 1840. 
He has secured a commanding influence with the nations in 
that region, and in 1865 was employed by the government 
to assist in making a peace with the warlike Sioux. He 
makes his head-quarters at St. Louis, and is the author of 
several books on the Indian tribes. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 



The true formula for the conversion of the Indians to 
Christianity, was successfully followed by the good and 
pious Elliot of Massachusetts. Having been settled as pas- 
tor of the church in Roxburyin 1632, and having witnessed 
the straggling natives, as they wandered about, trading 
some moccasins and furs for food and rum, his love for 
them was aroused to activity, and he determined in the true 
missionary spirit, to strive for their conversion to Christian- 
ity. Unlike the Catholic priests who accompanied the 
expeditions of Cortez to Mexico, and Pizarro to Peru, who 
only presented the alternative of the sword or the cross, the 
good Elliot commenced by learning the Indian language ; 
then by instructing them in their own language in the 
requisites of both Christianity and civilization ; and in 1654, 
after a labor of love for twenty-two years, gathered his first 
Indian church at Natick. The following year he had com- 
pleted the translation of the New Testament into the Mohe- 
gan dialect of the Algonquin language, and in two years 
after, he completed the translation of the Old Testament ; 
and the Indian Bible thus translated, was the first Bible 
printed in America. By his ardent labors, in 1674 he 
had fourteen praying Indian villages, in which six regular 
churches were formed. 

In the mean time, constant aggressions had been carried 
on by the traders and settlers against the uncivilized Indians. 



136 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

The great chief, Philip, had repeatedly been imprisoned and 
robbed of his territory; and at last, goaded to desperation, 
the bold chief summoned his warriors, raised his tomahawk, 
and in 1675 commenced the terrible war that resulted in the 
extermination of the most of the Indians, and in the death 
of over six hundred whites. After the war, when the sor- 
rowing Elliot sought out the remnant of his Indian churches, 
which had cost him the labor of forty-three years, he found 
that they had been plundered and murdered in turn by both 
whites and Indians ; and that four bleeding and decimated 
villages were all that were left of the fourteen before the 
war. 

But the mantle of Elliot seemed to fall upon David Brain- 
ard. Expelled from Yale College for having said " that 
one of the tutors was as devoid of grace as a chair," he was 
immediately appointed a missionary to the Indians, by a 
Scotch missionary society, and entered upon the duties of 
his mission in the spring of 1742 among the Mohegans, at 
Kau-na-meek, between Stockbridge and Albany. After a 
year's labor of Brainard, those Indians removed to Stock- 
bridge, and Brainard turned his attention to the Delawares 
of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Here his labors were 
crowned with success ; but unfortunately for the cause of 
missions, in the fall of 1746, from his arduous labors his 
health failed, and in the following spring he returned to 
Massachusetts, and in October, died in the family of Jona- 
than Edwards at Northampton. About this time several 
unsuccessful attempts were made to establish missions 
among the Indians. Even the zealous Charles and John 
Wesley, failed after three years' efforts, in Georgia. But the 
indomitable Moravians, having, like the Wesley s, failed in 
Georgia, removed to Pennsylvania, and in 1740 opened a 
mission among the Delawares on the Susquehanna. This 
mission for a time proved successful, but the Pontiac war 
aroused the anger of a portion of the whites, who deter- 
mined to avenge themselves on the Christian Indians. To 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 137 

avoid this calamity, Zeisberger, the leader of the mission- 
aries, took his Indians in a body to Philadelphia, and the 
governor attempted to protect them by placing them in the 
common prison. Even here some of them were murdered. 
In 1767 Zeisberger removed a band of Christian Indians to 
the Allegheny river, and three years after, again removed to 
Beaver creek on the Ohio, where he was the same season 
joined by another party of the Delawares from the Susque- 
hanna, under the missionary Heckewelder. The following 
year, Zeisberger, under an invitation of the Delaware chiefs, 
opened another mission on the Muskingum river, where he 
was soon joined by a band from the Susquehanna of two 
hundred and forty-one persons. Here, in the depths of the 
forests of Ohio, the pious missionaries labored with great 
zeal in their Master's work, and successfully overcame the 
crisis of the hostility of the Pagan Indians, which in after 
years proved so disastrous to the Sioux. But successful as 
they were against the Pagans, many of them finally fell a 
sacrifice to the inhumanity of the whites. 

The war of the revolution having arrayed the western 
Indians on the side of Great Britain, the fierce Iroquois 
demanded the alliance of the Delawares, but the Christian 
Indians, having imbibed the peculiarities of the Moravians, 
refused to fight. This greatly exasperated the English and 
their Indian allies, and in the summer of 1781 the Christian 
Indians were compelled to abandon their crops and their 
settlements on the Muskingum, and remove to Sandusky. 
In the fall of the same year, to protect themselves from 
starvation the coining winter, they sent back to the settle- 
ments on the Muskingum a party of ninety-eight men, 
women, and children, to gather their abandoned crops. This 
party, when nearly ready to return to Sandusky, were 
secretly surrounded by Colonel Williamson, with about 
ninety Americans from western Pennsylvania, who dis- 
armed the Indians, and murdered ninety-six of them in 
cold blood. Two boys alone escaped to report the disas- 
9* 



138 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

trous news at Sandusky. This success of Colonel William- 
son and his party, so elated them and their friends at home, 
that early the following March they fitted out an expedition 
of nearly five hundred men, under Colonels Williamson and 
Crawford, who marched upon Sandusky with the view of 
surprising and exterminating the balance of the Christian 
Indians at that place. Learning of the near approach of 
that force, the hostile Indians about Sandusky, including the 
Wyandots, laid in ambush for the American party, and 
attacked and cut them to pieces. Colonel Crawford, his 
son, and son-in-law, were taken prisoners, and burned at the 
stake. After the close of the revolution, and in 1786, the 
Christian Indians returned to Pennsylvania and to the 
Muskingum, and Zeisberger died on the Muskingum in 
1808, aged eighty-seven, having been a missionary among 
theDelawares for the long period of sixty-two years. From 
the commencement of the mission to 1*782, the missionaries 
baptized seven hundred and twenty Indian converts. Heck- 
ewelder returned to Pennsylvania, where he wrote a history 
of the mission, and some other books relating to the 
Indians, and finally died at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 
1823. With those two distinguished missionaries, probably 
terminated the Moravian missions among the Delawares, as 
that tribe in subsequent years do not appear to have had 
any Moravian teachers. m 

From the commencement of the revolution to the close of 
the war of 1812, the north-west was in an unsettled condi- 
tion, by reason of the refusal of the British to deliver up to 
the Americans their surrendered posts, and the constant 
intrigues of English traders among the Indians to keep the 
latter in the condition of war against the United States ; 
but the triumphant close of the war with Great Britain by 
the great victory at New Orleans, January 8th, 1815, fully 
placed the Americans in the enjoyment of the rights won 
by the revolution, and left the north-west free to American 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 139 

enterprise ; and we might with safety date the dawning of 
north-western civilization from that eventful victory. 

In this condition of affairs, even religion seemed to have 
put on a new phase, and adapted itself to the advance of 
civilization in the great west. The then comparatively new 
sect called " Methodists," originated by the Wesleys, of 
England, and planted in New York in IV 66, had now be- 
come the religion of great numbers of the pioneers of the 
west. It could be preached without parchment or pulpit, 
grammar or diploma; could be learned without creed, 
prayer-book or breviary, and heard, too, without chapel or 
cathedral. It marched without crosier or cross in the emi- 
grant train, and slept with the pioneer the first night in his 
log cabin. It assembled the scattered pioneers in the shady 
grove for the camp meeting, where the happy shouts of the 
new converts often excelled in noise the most extravagant 
Indian war dance. 

The Methodists early embarked in Indian missions. 
Their first noted missionary in that department was John 
Steward, a free colored man, born near Richmond, Virginia, 
who was converted and united with the Methodist church 
in that State. Unadvised, and acting on his own impres- 
sions of duty, he journeyed alone and on foot from Virginia 
to upper Sandusky, in Ohio, where, in November, 1816, he 
commenced a mission among the Wyandots or Hurons. 
He found an interpreter in a negro, who had, many years 
before, been taken prisoner by the Wyandots, and had 
learned their language. He met with a determined opposi- 
tion from the Pagan and Catholic parties, and to obviate a 
difficulty raised by the latter to his not being a priest, in 
March, 1819, he visited Urbana Quarterly Conference, and 
obtained a local preacher's license, and was appointed mis- 
sionary to upper Sandusky. 

The Ohio Conference, August 7th, 1819, appointed Rev. 
James B. Finley to the Lebanon district, which included upper 
Sandusky mission, which appointment gave him the super- 



140 UPPER MISSISSIPPI 

vision of that mission. Up to this time, Mr. Steward had 
won over to the Methodist church four prominent Wyandot 
chiefs, and about sixty other Indians. Schools were estab- 
lished, and in 1826 the church members numbered 303, and 
the schools 77 scholars. An important revival occurred in 
1837; and when they removed west of the Missouri they 
carried Methodism with them, and continue to sustain a 
flourishing church to the present day. 

In 1820, the fame of the success of the mission work 
among the Wyandots crossed Lake Erie, and aroused the 
attention of another band of the same tribe living near 
Fort Maiden, in Canada. Two native preachers, and John 
Sunday, a converted Chippeway, visited and preached to 
them in the Wyandot language. Several were converted, 
and a mission established. 

In 1823, two half-breeds, John and Peter Jones, brothers, 
who were chiefs at Credit river, in Canada, were converted 
at a Methodist mission under the preaching of Revs. Torry 
and Crawford. The two young Indians returned to their 
tribe, and commenced teaching. In 1827 they were visited 
by Indian missionaries, and an important revival com- 
menced. A camp meeting was held during the summer 
near Cobourg, where hundreds of Indians attended, and 
many were converted. The shouts of the happy Indian 
souls might have been heard for miles around. The great 
work spread from band to band, until barbarism almost 
ceased in southern Canada West. 

John Sunday and some 'other native preachers went as 
missionaries to Lake Superior in 1830, and were followed 
in 1834 by four others, including George Cop way, as a 
teacher. They established, in 1833, a successful mission at 
Anse, near Kewenaw bay ; and, in October, 1835, they 
established another at Ottawa lake, oh the upper Chippeway 
river, one hundred and seventy-five miles nearly south from 
La Point. These missions were under the care of Rev. 
John Clark, whose head-quarters were at Sault St. Mary. 




REV. ALFRED BRUNSON, D.D 

/m 



THE PKOTESTANT MISSIONS. 143 

At the session of Pittsburgh Conference, Pennsylvania, 
in July, 1835, Rev. Alfred Branson, then presiding elder of 
Meadeville district, was appointed superintendent of mis- 
sions on the upper Mississippi. In September of that year 
he started on his work, and attended the Illinois Conference, 
which appointed him presiding elder of Galena district, 
extending from Rock Island north to the British possessions. 
He finally reached Prairie Du Chien in November, where 
he found a fort, and quite a settlement of Canadian French 
and half-breeds, but only three American families outside of 
the fort. Arrived at the head of civilization, he found him- 
self entirely unqualified for the work of missions, as he did 
not know a word of any of the Indian languages in this 
region. Casting about for an. interpreter, he fortunately 
found a negro slave at Fort Snelling who understood the 
Sioux language, and who could be purchased of an officer 
at the fort for $1,200. Sending the facts to the Methodist 
paper at Cincinnati, he was soon put in possession of the 
money by private donations, and with it procured free 
papers for the negro. 

Father Brunson consumed the summer of 1836 in visiting 
Pennsylvania, bringing on his family, and holding quarterly 
meetings in his Galena district, south of Prairie Du Chien ; 
and, finally, about the 20th of May, 1837, he availed himself 
of the first steamboat up the river that spring to go with his 
small party to Little Crow's village, at Kaposia, three miles 
below the present St. Paul, where he built a house and 
established a mission. Returning after several weeks to 
Prairie Du Chien for additional supplies, he first met George 
Copway, John Johnson, his cousin, and Peter Marksman, 
three young Chippeways, who had spent the last three years 
in the missions of Lake Superior, and whose superintendent, 
Rev. John Clark, had sent south to be further educated at 
the Methodist school at Jacksonville, Illinois, called the 
" Ebenezer Seminary." These young men accompanied 
Superintendent Brunson on his return to Kaposia, and 



144 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

assisted in building the school-house and church, and soon 
after acted as interpreters at a treaty with the Chippeways, 
in which Governor Doty, as government agent, purchased 
a large tract of the Chippeways' country. In the fall they 
were sent to the seminary, where they remained two years, 
and then returned to the missionary work. During the 
summer of 1837, Revs. Thomas W. Pope, James Whitford, 
and Hiram Delap were added to the mission, the latter with 
his family. In May, 1838, Mr. Brunson, with two other 
missionaries, Whitford and Randolph, visited Hole-in-the- 
Day, the head Chippeway chief, near Crow Wing, above 
St. Anthony falls, and got leave to establish a mission in his 
band, but the fierce war that broke out immediately with 
the Sioux delayed it for some time. 

Late in the fall, Mr. Brunson was prostrated with the 
fever, which so destroyed his health that he failed to visit 
the Kaposia mission the following year, and in the fall of 
1839 he was placed upon the superannuated list, and was 
superseded by Rev. B. T. Kavenaugh as superintendent. 
Mr. Kavenaugh took with him to his missionary field, 
Brothers Spates, Huddleston, Johnson, and Marksman, and 
established a new mission among the Chippeways, on the 
east bank of the Mississippi, at Elk river, some three 
hundred miles above St. Paul. In the fall of 1840, when 
the missionaries returned from Rock River Conference, 
they found the Indians had all fled, on account of the 
expected attack of the Sioux, and the mission was removed 
to Rabbit river the following February. However, on the 
30th of December, before the removal, Rev. Mr. Huddleston 
died of dysentery, and was buried on the top of a little hill 
on the bank of the Mississippi. Hole-in-the-Day threw a 
heap of stones on the grave, " so," as he said, " that all may 
see and know where the good man lies ; he who came to 
bless us." 

In the fall of 1840 a new mission was established at 
Sandy Lake, under the charge of Rev. Mr. Spates, and a 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 145 

school organized. The Sioux having sent hostile war 
parties far into the interior of the Chippeway country, 
Superintendent Kavenaugh again changed his base, and 
established a new mission at Whitefish lake, and another at 
Fond du Lac, of Lake Superior. In July, 1841, the missions 
were consolidated into that at Sandy lake, under the charge 
of Rev. H. J. Bruce, assisted by Rev. Samuel Spates, with 
a school of thirty scholars ; that at Whitefish lake, under the 
charge of Rev. John Johnson, (Chippeway) ; and that at 
Fond du Lac, under the charge of Rev. George Copway, 
(Chippeway), assisted by his wife, her sister, and James 
Simpson, as teachers. 

The mission at Kaposia was much embarrassed in the 
spring of 1841, by the war parties, and the school was closed 
for the reason that " Little Crow " visited it, and entered 
his protest against any boys attending the school, under the 
ill-conceived idea that if they were educated they would not 
make warriors. But to his credit it should be stated that at 
the alarm in 1838, the night after the battle with the Chip- 
peways on the St. Croix, when the missionaries had all 
embarked to go down the river, he ordered them back to 
their mission house, placed his son with them, and left a 
strong guard to surround their house, who reported hourly, 
" all quiet without." This son was then a young man nearly 
twenty, who became notorious as the head chief in the 
Sioux rebellion of 1862. During this fearful night "Little 
Crow" and his warriors had their war-dance over the 
Chippeway scalps, but a few rods from the mission-house. 
Superintendent Brunson was present at the dance a short 
time, and witnessed the barbarians holding high carnival 
over their trophies of war. 

But the Methodists did not confine their efforts to the 
tribes above named. In 1823, Rev. Jesse Walker opened a 
mission among the Potowatomies, in the vicinity of Fort 
Clark, on Fox river, Illinois, and about 1837 over one hun- 
dred were converted. About this time, a prophet rose up 
10 



I 

146 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

among the Kickapoos, preaching the essential doctrines of 
Methodism, but adding many of his own peculiarities. His 
name was Kee-an-ne-kuk, or the " Foremost man." He was 
a chief of great eloquence, and preached every Sabbath to 
his tribe, denouncing intemperance with no sparing hand. 
The traders in that tribe told Mr. Catlin, who painted his 
portrait in 1835, that the chief got his knowledge of Chris- 
tianity from a Methodist preacher, whom he would not allow 
to preach, but detained him some time, until he learned the 
essential doctrines of his religion, and then dismissed him. 
It has often been stated that the chief subsequently con- 
formed to the orthodox church, but this is a mistake, as he 
died west of the Missouri with the small-pox about 1856, in 
the belief that he should rise again from the dead in three 
days. He had studiously opposed any innovation upon his 
teachings. His teachings, however, did not deter the Meth- 
odists from opening a mission among the Kickapoos in 1830, 
which flourished finely, and in 1834 numbered 230 members, 
with a school of twenty-four native children. 

In 1829, a mission was commenced at Green Bay, among 
the Oneidas, by a young Mohawk, wlio had been converted 
in Canada among the Wesleyans. In a short time 100 were 
converted, and its influence spread to the Onondagas, Men- 
ominies, and Kewawenons, and schools were established. 

Without following out in detail the various new missions, 
and their varied successes, we may say that in 1854, the 
Methodists claimed in Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, and 
Black river, thirteen missions, seventeen missionaries, 1,051 
members, 176 probationers, and five local preachers; and 
the Methodist Church South, thirty missions, twenty-eight 
missionaries, 4,232 members, thirty-five churches, thirty- 
four Sabbath-schools, 1,394 scholars, nine manual labor 
schools, and 490 pupils. It should be observed, however, 
that the church south took possession of all the missions 
among the northern Indians, who removed west of the Mis- 
souri river, as well as the very extensive missions among 




ir^SSrfS^pS 



KEE-AU-NE-KUK 
(kicakapoo pkopiiet.) 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 149 

the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, etc., in the south; and 
so sensitive were the southern Methodists on this point, that 
they compelled the Rev. James Gurley, who had been ap- 
pointed by the Ohio Conference, in 1849, to continue the 
mission with the Wyandots, to leave the country at the 
peril of his life, after he had been with that tribe nearly six 
months, to their entire satisfaction. 

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
ions have not been neglectful of the Indians. A mission 
was commenced with the Ottawas at Maumee, Ohio, by the 
Western Missionary Society, in 1822, but subsequently came 
under the American Board. It flourished for a few years, 
and in 1828 had seventy pupils in their school, but the tribe 
having sold their land to government, became scattered, and 
the mission was abandoned in 1833. 

In 1830, a mission was opened among the Cbippeways, at 
Lapoint, Lake Superior, by Mr. Frederic Ayer, a teacher 
and catechist, who was followed the next year by Revs. 
Hall and Boutwell. They opened missions at Lapoint, Yel- 
low lake, Sandy lake, and Leech lake. In 1834, the Sandy 
lake station, occupied by Mr. Ely, was removed to Fond du 
Lac ; and the Yellow lake mission, in 1836, was removed to 
Pokeguma lake, where they were joined by the missionary 
from Leech lake. Fond du Lac mission was deserted in 1840, 
and in May, 1841, Pokeguma was attacked by the Sioux, 
and the Indians scattered with some loss. They did not 
return until 1843, and the post was abandoned by the mis- 
sionaries a year or two after. In 1854, and for three years 
previous, they only held stations at Bad river and Crow 
Wing. The American Board also established a mission 
among the Sioux or Dakotas, in 1835. 

The first missionaries were Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, 
and Jedediah T>. Stevens, with their wives ; Alexander 
Huggins, farmer, and his wife, and Sarah Poage, teacher, 
and Lucy C. Stevens, assistant. They selected two points, 
Lake Harriet, six miles west of Fort Snelling, and Lacqui 



150 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Parle, near the head-waters of Minnesota river. Mr. Wil- 
liamson, who was a physician, Mr. Huggins and Miss Poage, 
remained at Lake Harriet, and the rest of the company 
proceeded to the other post. In 1850, they had six missions, 
three organized churches, thirty-one native, and thirty-two 
white communicants, with an average attendance of twenty- 
seven pupils in school. The Rev. S. R. Riggs was early 
added to the mission, who has performed much of the labor 
of compiling the Dakota Dictionary, and the translation of 
the Bible into the Dakota language. The mission continued 
to progress finely, until their labors were cut short by the 
outbreak of 1862. 

Before we pass from the Sioux missions, it is proper to 
remark that an effort was made by some missionary society 
in Switzerland, to establish a mission among the Sioux, 
and Mr. Denton, a Swiss Presbyterian, was sent from 
Europe in 1834, who opened a mission at Red Wing in 
the spring of the following year, and Mr. Gavan, another 
Swiss Presbyterian, came out in the fall of 1836, and opened 
a mission at Mont Trempealeau, in Wabashas' band. They 
continued their missions for a few years with some success, 
and then returned to Europe. Their missions do not appear 
to have been named in any accounts published of missions 
in the north-west. 

The American Board became possessed of the mission 
among the O sages, which was established by the United 
Foreign Missionary Society, in 1820. This mission was 
conducted with zeal and considerable expense until 1837, 
when it was finally abandoned as a useless effort. The same 
Board made a similar unsuccessful effort among the Paw- 
nees, a tribe on the Platte numbering nearly 7,000. The 
first missionary company consisted of Rev. John Dunbar, 
missionary, Benedict Satterlee, physician and catechist, and 
Samuel Allis, assistant, who made their head-quarters at 
Bellevue, the government agency. Dr. Satterlee died on 
one of his excursions with a band towards the Rocky moun- 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 151 

tains, and, no adequate success attending the mission, it was 
abandoned in 1847. 

The missions among the Tuscaroras and Senecas in New 
York, were, in 1826, transferred to the American Board. 
The following year, John Elliot, of Maine, entered the work 
among the Tuscaroras, and was joined by Rev. William 
Hall in 1829. In 1843, there were reported at Tuscarora, 
forty-nine members ; Seneca, twenty ; Cattaraugus, fifty-one; 
and at Alleghany, 114. The aggregate number of pupils in 
school at all the stations were reported at 200. Previous 
to 1854, these missions were consolidated into two, the 
Seneca and Tuscarora, and that year reported in the aggre- 
gate, six stations, five missionaries, nineteen female assistant 
missionaries, two hundred and sixty-five members of the 
church, and three hundred and eighty scholars. 

The Presbyterian Board of Missions have also had some 
missions among the north-western Indians. They first 
opened a mission among the Iowas and Sacs in 1835, 
which has been continued with some success, and in 1854 
they had with those tribes, one missionary, four teachers, 
and forty scholars. They opened a mission among the 
Olloes and Omahaws at Bellevue, in 1846, and in 1854 had 
one missionary and six teachers among them, and forty-two 
scholars in their school. Another mission was opened 
among the Chippeways and Ottawas, at Grand Traverse 
bay, Michigan, by Rev. Peter Dougherty, in 1838, and in 
1854 they had one missionary, three teachers, thirty-four 
scholars, and thirty-two communicants. In 1852 a school 
was opened at Little Traverse, with two teachers and forty 
scholars; and at Middle Village, in 1853, with two teachers 
and thirty scholars. 

There was a mission in 1835, not mentioned in the church 
missionary records, at Yellow river, Iowa, nine miles above 
Prairie Du Chien, conducted by Rev. David Lowry, a Cum- 
berland Presbyterian, and the government agent and school 
teacher, among the Winnebagoes. Mr. Lowry subsequently 



152 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

came in collision with a Catholic priest, who claimed spirit- 
ual jurisdiction over the Winnebagoes, and we are not 
prepared to say what became of Mr. Lowry's mission. 

The American Baptist Missionary Union, in the fall of 
1817, appointed Rev. Isaac McCoy a missionary among the 
Indians on the Wabash river, who immediately repaired to 
Fort Wayne, in Indiana, then on the frontier, in the midst 
of bands of the Miamies, Kickapoos, Potowatomies and 
Ottawas. In a year he had made friends with a few Indian 
families, and obtained a few children, whom he taught in 
his family. In 1820 he had increased his school to forty- 
eight pupils. Two years after, he removed his station two 
hundred miles further west, and called his new station 
Carey, where the Indians were mainly Potowatomies. Here 
he gathered a church of some thirty members, part Indians 
and part whites. 

On the solicitation of " Noonday," a principal chief of a 
band of Ottawas, Mr. McCoy established another mission 
with that band on Grand river, Michigan, which he named 
Thomas, which in 1827 was put under the care of Rev. 
Leonard Slater. The Potowatomies, having sold their land 
to government, and disappointed the missionaries by their 
indifference to religion, Mr. McCoy, in 1829, with all his 
associates except Rev. Mr. Sumerville, removed to Thomas. 
In 1830, this mission at Grand river was composed of five 
missionaries, six female assistants, and one farmer. In 
1832, a revival of religion took place, and several Indians 
were converted, among which was the chief " Noonday." 
He proved a very consistent, active Christian ; was of great 
service to the missionary in his work, and died trium- 
phantly. His grave, in the Indian burial-place at " Richland," 
is marked by a white marble slab, with the name of " Noon- 
day" carved upon it. In 1836 the Indians sold their land 
to government, and most of the tribes removed west of the 
Missouri. A small band, however, removed to Richland, 
fifty miles south of " Thomas," who were followed by Mr. 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 153 

Slater. In 1853, this band also followed their brethren west 
of the Missouri, and Mr. Slater was relieved of his mission. 
The most of the expense of these missions, after 1825, was 
borne by government, under the act of Congress of 1819, 
appropriating $10,000 annually, to be expended by the 
President for the education of the Indians. 

In 1828 the Baptist Board established a mission at Sault 
St. Mary, near the outlet of Lake Superior, and Rev. Abel 
Bingham was appointed missionary. The president made 
them an appropriation to assist in defraying the expenses of 
the mission. Suitable buildings were soon erected, and in 
1832 forty persons were baptized and added to the church, 
of whom eleven were Indians, and the balance were gen- 
erally connected with the American fort. Messrs. Meeker 
and Merrill, and their wives, were added to the mission in 
1833. In 1854 the Chippeway Baptist mission numbered 
two stations, two out-stations, two missionaries, one female 
assistant, one native assistant, one church, twenty-one mem- 
bers, one boarding school, six pupils ; two day schools and 
seventy-four pupils. The following year Mr. Bingham 
resigned his supervision of the mission. They also claimed 
the following at Shawanoe mission, west of the Missouri : 
three stations, three missionaries, five female assistants, two 
native assistants, three churches, one hundred members, 
two boarding schools, and forty-five pupils. 

The Protestant Episcopal church established a mission at 
Green Bay in 1825, under the superintendence of Rev. Mr. 
Nash, but it was discontinued in 1827. It was revived in 
1829, under the care of Rev. R. F. Codle, and again discon- 
tinued in 1837. December 2nd, 1838, Rev. Bishop Kemper 
consecrated a church at Duck Creek, erected by the- 
Oneidas with "funds received from government, and the fol- 
lowing year Rev. Solomon Davis was placed in charge. 

The American Missionary Association established a mis- 
sion among the Chippeways at Red lake in 1843 ; Cass lake, 
1846; St. Josephs and Belle Prairie in 1852. At these 
10* 



154 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

points, in 1854, they had two missionaries, seventeen assist- 
ant teachers, three churches, twelve native communicants, 
and thirty-nine scholars in boarding schools. 

There were probably other missions of the foregoing 
churches and societies, as well as of other societies, but 
the writer has not the statistics from which to give their 
condition. Several of these missions were discontinued 
previous to 1867, and many new ones have been established, 
and the reader is referred to the sketches of the different 
tribes for the condition of the missions in 1867, together 
with their advancement in civilization. 

The question has a thousand times been asked, " Why 
can't the Indian be civilized and Christianized?" The 
answer from the missionaries has been almost uniformly 
this, " that the Indian can be both civilized and Christian- 
ized;" but that the lack of success is mainly attributable to 
the hostility of the Indian traders, the lack of cooperation 
by government, and the sale of intoxicating liquors to the 
Indians. 

We have previously given the testimony of the Jesuit 
Fathers on this subject, and now propose to submit some 
Protestant testimony of modern date to the same point, so 
that the reader can see that the evil is the same now that it 
was two hundred years ago. We will first introduce S. 
Cooper, Esq., the government sub Indian agent to the Sacs 
and Foxes at Council Bluffs, in October, 1841, by making an 
extract from his official report to his government : 

" The principal reason of these people not progressing 
faster in civilization is ardent spirits^ which are kept along 
the line of Missouri, and conveyed into the Indian country 
by half-breeds. The whisky trade has increased double this 
season, and can not be prevented by our Indian agents unless 
they can have aid from government. The Indian will sell 
any thing for liquor." 

Our next witness is A. Hamilton, Esq., sub-agent to the 
Miamies, on their reservation in Indiana, who says, in his 



THE PEOTESTANT MISSIONS. 155 

official report, September 10th, 1841, that " the tribe is 
diminishing yearly. More than half the adults who die, 
perish by the hands of their fellow-Indians. Frequently 
members of the same family destroy each other during their 
scenes of drunkenness and riot." 

We next bring forward Rev. A. Bingham, the faithful 
Baptist missionary to the Ojibways, at Sault St. Mary. 
Here is his testimony to government on this subject, in 
August, 1841 : 

" And so long as our Indians are accustomed to frequent 
a place where twelve or fourteen houses are licensed to deal 
out intoxicating liquor to a population of two or three 
hundred souls, and while there are so many individuals who 
spend the most of their time in peddling the deadly stuff to 
Indians as well as others, and no check can be put to it; 
who, that knows the native fondness of an Indian for it, 
can calculate on any very extensive and beneficial results 
from the most faithful and self-denying labors of the mis- 
sionary ?" 

It will be observed that the American Board had a mis- 
sionary station among the Osage Indians from 1820 to 
1837, which they abandoned the latter year. The following 
extract from the official report of the Indian agent for that 
tribe in 1841, will explain some of the difficulties: 

" Hitherto, these people have lived in the world without 
law, or the fear of God before their eyes ; and, in conse- 
quence, have repeatedly sinned against their neighbors, and 
for several years past have drank much more than formerly. 
The vendors of whisky are to be found at almost every 
other house, from the Cowskin to Missouri river, near the 
boundary line." 

Further testimony from the same locality appears in the 
official report of J. B Luce, sub-agent to the Senecas, dated 
August 1st, 1841 : 

" There are two distilleries in Missouri, near the Seneca 
line, ready to absorb these toll grains, (of Seneca mill), and 



156 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

it is said one of them is supported and carried on entirely 
by grain bought from, and whisky sold to the Indians. To 
such a pitch had this matter reached when I arrived, that 
every Monday, the day on which the tolls are distributed, 
three-fourths of these unfortunate people might be seen 
drunk about the mill." 

By referring to the chapter on the history of the Chippe- 
ways of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, the reader will 
observe that all the efforts at Christianizing this tribe have 
been nearly fruitless ; and the missionaries have from time 
to time abandoned them as past all hopes of recovery. 
Here are detailecKsome of the reasons of this failure in the 
official report of H. G. Gilbert, Esq., agent for the Chippe- 
ways, dated Detroit, Michigan, October 10th, 1855. Speak- 
ing of the bands at Lac Court, Oreille, and Lac de Flam- 
beau, he says : 

" They are seldom visited except by traders, who, from 
the very nature of their business, and the manner in which 
it has been conducted, have been directly interested in 
preventing any advance in civilization among them." 
. . . " From their present appearance and condition, as 
well as from the most reliable information, I am led to 
believe that for many years they have been furnished with 
whisky in large quantities." . . . " The annuity pay- 
ments are always attended by a set of miscreants, who rob 
and plunder the Indians of their goods and money, in ex- 
change for intoxicating drinks. At the late payment at La 
Point, large quantities of whisky were brought to the place, 
and within a day or two after the distribution of goods had 
taken place, I learned that some of the interior Indians had 
been stripped in this way of all they had received. I had 
not yet made the money payments, but was ready to do so, 
and was well satisfied that if it was made under the then 
existing circumstances, a large proportion of the $20,000 to 
be paid in coin would find its way into the pockets of the 
whisky venders. There was but one course to take. With 



THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 157 

the aid of my assistants and some other gentlemen present, 
every suspected place on the island was searched, and all 
the liquor found was destroyed. About 1,000 bottles, put 
up ready for sale, were broken, and twelve barrels emptied 
into the lake. Several hundred dollars worth of goods, that 
had been taken from the Indians in exchange for whisky, 
were reclaimed, and the traffic was effectually broken up 
for that time." 

From the foregoing report, it appears that government 
has begun to wake up to the subject, and the following dis- 
plays the shadows of corning events. Mr. Fitch, the Chip- 
peway agent for 1859, sends the following advice to govern- 
ment : " This is a matter that admits of no compromise. 
The vender of intoxicating liquors among the Indians must 
be considered as their enemy, a disturber of the peace and 
good order of society, and should be treated as such at 
home and abroad, and as such dealt with according to 

law." 

We next give agent Galbraith's report of the origin of 
the Sioux massacre, which report was dated January 27th, 
1863 : " On Sunday, the 17th day of August, A. D. 1862, 
at the village of Acton, in the county of Meeker, and State 
of Minnesota, four lower Sioux Indians, of the Sha-ka-pee's 
band, part of a hunting party composed of fourteen, 
obtained whisky, became intoxicated, and killed six persons, 
including a man by the name of Jones, from whom, it is 
alleged, they obtained the whisky. This was the immedi- 
ate, exciting cause of the outbreak." 

We close this testimony with an extract from the official 
report of the Governor of Dakota territory, dated Septem- 
ber 20th, 1864. Speaking of the Sioux war, then pending, 
and its origin, he says : " It is in a great measure, if not 
wholly, attributable to the influence of disloyal persons, or 
rebels, who are so generously permitted by the government 
to have intercourse with them (Indians) ; and the practice 
which prevails to an alarming extent, doubtless much 



158 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

beyond the belief or even conception of the department, of 
allowing such persons to carry whisky into the Indian 
country, where it is sold to the Indians or exchanged for 
peltries, in such quantities as at times to make a whole 
camp drunk and unmanageable." 

From these extracts, all of which are taken from the pub- 
lished documents of Congress, it appears that government 
is now fully advised that the whisky-trader with the Indians 
is a rebel, and should be treated as such by government ; 
and that such rebels have constantly fought against all the 
efforts of government and of missionaries for over two 
centuries, and, unfortunately for civilization and Christianity, 
have, until lately, beat them both. But Congress has now 
passed strong penal laws against the whisky traffic with the 
Indians, and if the Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall 
hereafter select the proper Indian agents, who will sympa- 
thize with the missionaries, and, at all hazards, execute the 
laws, there is yet hope for the poor remnants of the once 
brave and powerful nations of the north-west. 

In view of the premises, the zealous missionaries, remem- 
bering that even Jerusalem " killed the prophets and stoned 
them which were sent unto her," should take courage and 
renew the conflict, for the day of victory is evidently near 
at hand. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE IROQUOIS, HURONS, DELAWARES, AND MOHEGANS. 
ONGWE-HONWE, OR IROQUOIS. 

This confederacy originally called themselves the Ongwe- 
Honwe, or real men ; a name nearly synonymous in mean- 
ing with Itlim, or the men of the Illinois confederacy. 
After the Iroquois had confederated, they called themselves 
JTonoshioni, or people of the long house, meaning that their 
council-houses, from Albany to near Lake Erie, had become 
one. In the early times of Champlain, the French called 
them Iroquois, from their peculiar eroh, or grunt, which 
they gave at the close of a speech, with the affix of ois, 
probably thereby meaning the grunters, or eroh-ers. 

They were originally six bands, known to the English as 
Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and 
Tuscaroras. The latter band, according to their traditions, 
went down the Ohio to the Mississippi, and from thence to 
North Carolina, This probably occurred in about 1662, 
while they were in pursuit of the Shawnees. In North 
Carolina, while living near Newburn, they joined some local 
tribes, and made war on the whites in 1712, but were 
defeated, and the most of the band returned to New York 
in 1714. The Hurons and Eries were originally powerful 
bands of the same people, but having become alienated by 
the intrigues of Champlain, they were nearly exterminated 
by the Iroquois. A remnant, however, of the Hurons, 
called by the Iroquois Quatoghies, were readmitted, in 



160 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

1723, as the seventh band or nation, under the English 
name of Necariages. This latter proceeding, however, 
does not appear to have been generally satisfactory with 
the Hurons, and they did not take up their residence with 
the confederacy. It was, nevertheless, a formal reunion of 
the whole great Ongwe-Honwe family, after the long, 
desolating civil war so unfortunately inaugurated by Cham- 
plain in 1610. 

Like the Winnebagoes, Dakotas, and some other ancient 
tribes, they have no traditions of removals from other local- 
ities ; but uniformly have declared that they were originally 
created or called forth from the bowels of a hill near the 
falls of the Oswego river. This miraculous birth, with their 
early history, are associated with spirits, beasts, reptiles, 
and war, in the best style of fabulous Greece and Rome; 
and even excelled the Puritans of Salem in the number and 
power of their witches. 

Their traditions of wars, excepting those evidently fabu- 
lous, do not seem to extend beyond our history of the 
French settlement of Canada ; but the Senecas always 
dwell with much emphasis on their war against the Kah- 
kwas, or Eries, which we have given as having terminated 
in 1655. Beyond that, it is believed that there is no plausi- 
ble tradition of a war extending to the Mississippi. 

The wanderings of the Tuscaroras to the Mississippi, and 
thence to the rivers Roanoke and Neuse, in North Carolina, 
appear very reasonable, when we consider that the Shawnees 
were driven by the Iroquois up the Tennessee, until they 
were seen on the Santee in South Carolina. Had the Tus- 
caroras followed the Shawnees to the head-waters of the 
Tennessee, they would then have been in the western part 
of North Carolina, and near the head-waters of the Roanoke 
and other rivers running to the Atlantic. The custom of 
the Indians was to journey in canoes, and we must regard 
that custom in drawing inferences from their traditions. 

In previous chapters we have traced this confederacy 



ONGWE-HONWE, OR IROQUOIS. 161 

through the heroic ages of their wars, and shall hereafter 
more particularly attempt to note their real progress in 
civilization. Long before the French and Indian war, the 
French missionaries were urging the Iroquois to settle 
within the bounds of Canada, for the double purpose of 
removing them from the Protestant Dutch influence, and 
that they might be available to the French in their wars 
against the English colonists. Hence the French finally 
planted a colony of these Christian Indians at St. Regis, on 
the south shore of the St. Lawrence river, on the north line 
of the present State of New York. This village often be- 
came the rallying-point for those raids into the English 
colonies, organized and directed by the French, which re- 
sulted in no good to, but eternally disgraced, the French 
name. Against this village the English directed their oppo- 
sition, and the Iroquois refused them all political connection 
with their confederacy. In latter years, however, the St. 
Regis Indians have attained a respectable degree of civili- 
zation. 

In a previous chapter we have detailed the circumstances 
of the breaking up of the confederacy by the American army 
in our revolution, on account of a large part of the tribe 
taking the part of Great Britain in that war. After that 
war, a considerable proportion of the hostile part of the 
confederacy settled on the Grand river in Canada, and 
founded Brantford, while others settled in Ohio, near the 
Hurons. At the present day, that branch in Canada have 
their schools and churches. After the close of the revolu- 
tionary war, and in October, 1784, the United States made 
a treaty with the Iroquois, who remained in New York, in 
which the Indians surrendered all their claim to the Ohio 
valley west of a line commencing on Lake Ontario, four 
miles east of Niagara ; thence southerly four miles east of 
the falls carrying place to the mouth of Buffalo creek; 
thence south to the north line of Pennsylvania ; thence fol- 
lowing that State line to the Ohio river. This treaty cut 
11 



162 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

off all rights of the hostile Senecas to territory in Ohio. 
Subsequent to this, treaties were made from time to time, 
until the territories of this once mighty nation were limited 
to small reservations in New York, where a remnant resided 
in 1867, apparently contented and happy. 

The primary right to the soil of the territory held by these 
Indians, was purchased by a powerful land company in New 
York, which made a strong effort to induce the Indians to 
emigrate west, and Congress was induced to set aside nearly 
two millions of acres of land west of the Missouri river, for 
a reservation for the tribes, but only a few individuals ever 
emigrated to that region, who now live with the Shawnees. 
The Rev. Eleazer Williams, by his influence as a missionary 
with the Oneidas, finally succeeded in leading west, in 1823, 
a small company of that tribe to Fox river, near Green Bay. 
Difficulties, however, occurred with the Menominies, who 
gave the Oneidas their land, and nearly ten years were 
spent in negotiations, which were concluded in 1832; and 
soon after, the most of this band, and a part of the St. Regis 
band, removed and settled in Wisconsin. The Oneidas, in 
1867, had a reservation near Green Bay of 61,000 acres, of 
which 3,307 acres were under cultivation, yielding the pre- 
vious year 3,837 bushels of wheat, 18,875 of corn, 575 of 
rye, 830 of peas, 13,495 of potatoes, 11,156 of oats, and 584 
tons of hay. They lived in forty-one frame, and one hun- 
dred and five log houses. In 1866 they had a mission 
school, conducted by the Methodists, with an average 
attendance of twenty-one scholars ; and another by the Epis- 
copalians, with an average attendance of twenty-six scholars. 
Agent Martin, in his annual report, September 23, 1866, said 
of the Oneidas : " There are upon the reservation many 
good farms and desirable houses, and a ride through their 
settlement exhibits evidence of thrift, industry, and good 
management, highly creditable to the resident population ; 
their houses appear comfortable, their barns spacious and 
well filled," etc. Their lands had not been allotted to the 



ONGWE-HONWE, OR IROQUOIS. 163 

individual members of the band, but are held in common. 
The band put 111 volunteers into the Union army. 

The Iroquois in the State of New York, in 1865, had the 
following reservations : Alleghany, containing 30,469 acres, 
of which 2,436 were under cultivation, and having thereon 
186 houses ; Cattaraugus, containing 21,680 acres, of which 
4,962 were under cultivation, having thereon 43 frame, 103 
log, and 103 plank houses; Tonawanda, containing 7,000 
acres, of which 2,006 were under cultivation, having thereon 
18 frame, 38 log, and 63 plank houses ; Tuscarora, contain- 
ing 6,000 acres, of which 3,372 were under cultivation, 
having thereon 27 frame, and 44 log houses. 

The Onondagas, residing at Onondaga castle, had 569 
acres under cultivation, with 40 frame, 32 log, and 11 plank 
and block houses. The St. Regis band had 4,826 acres 
under cultivation, with 13 frame, 68 log, and 2 stone and 
brick houses. In 1845, that portion of the S.t. Regis band 
in the United States numbered 360 souls, but government 
have not taken them under their supervision, and they, con- 
sequently, do not receive any annuities. 

The New York Indians are making progress in civiliza- 
tion, and have agricultural fairs annually at Cattaraugus and 
Tonawanda reservations. The Thomas Asylum for orphan 
and destitute Indian children, was entirely successful in 1 866, 
and its embarrassment from lack of funds was relieved in 
1865 and 1866 by annual grants of $1,000 from the United 
States national fund for education. The State of New York 
supports schools among the Indians, and had twenty-three 
in successful operation in 1866. 

The Baptists, Methodists and Congregationalists have 
several churches, and a respectable number of church mem- 
bers among these Indians in western New York. The St. 
Regis band, however, are understood as being under the 
supervision of the Catholics. They were all loyal to the 
Union in the late rebellion, and furnished 195 soldiers to the 
army. 



1 04 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

While two hundred years of our history of the Iroquois 
appear as worse than wasted in desolating wars, instigated 
and directed by the French and English influence, yet we 
have the pleasure of noting that a change of policy on the 
part of the white has in fifty years brought these " savages " 
up to a grade of civilization nearly equal to the whites of 
the States in which they live. This lesson, so dearly learned, 
ought to be remembered by both whites and red men, in 
the future of civilization in America. 

WYANDOTS, OR HURONS. 

This kindred band of the Ongwe-Honwe, called them- 
selves the Wyandots. The French, however, called them 
Jfurons, which name the historian Charlevoix (no very good 
authority) says was derived from hure, the French name of 
the head of a wild boar, on account of the fantastic manner 
in which the tribe dressed their hair. The Iroquois called 
them Quatoghies, and the English Necariages. A band of 
the Hurons, living to the south-west of the principal nation, 
were called by the French " Tobacco Indians" and " Tion- 
ontaties," and by the English in subsequent years, " Denon- 
dadies." 

When Cartier visited the St. Lawrence in 1535, he found 
the sites of Montreal and Quebec in the possession of bands 
of Indians, of which he preserved some words of their 
language, which are found to be of the Huron or Iroquois 
dialect. When Champlain came in 1608, he found the 
Algonquins in possession of Quebec, and a war existing 
between them and the Iroquois. He heard of the Hurons 
at or above Montreal, and engaged them to join the Algon- 
quins against the Iroquois in 1610. 

We have traced them through that long and disastrous 
war, and find a remnant of them, about 1653, among the 
Sioux, on Iowa river; a few below Quebec, and the 
greater part either killed or prisoners among their enemies. 
The party among the Sioux soon quarreled with that tribe, 



WYANDOTS, OR IIUROXS. 165 

and removed to the head waters of the Black river, Wis- 
consin, where they were visited by two Frenchmen in 1659. 
This point being ill adapted to agriculture, they returned 
down Black river, and fortified, probably, the site of the 
Winnebago village at Gale's Ferry, where they were visited 
by Jean Guerin, the associate of Father Menard, in August, 
1661 ; thence they, were driven away by the Sioux, and in 
1665 Father Allouez found them at the head of Lake 
Superior. Thence they were expelled with the Algonquin 
nations in 1671, and returned to the Island of Mackinaw. 
Here a portion of the band were stationed in 1723, when 
they were formally readmitted into the Iroquois confederacy. 
A party of the Hurons, however, had descended and settled 
near Detroit in 1700. The whole band finally settled at 
and near Sandusky, Ohio. 

After the revolutionary war, they made several treaties 
with the United States, and finally, in 1842, engaged to 
remove west of the Missouri river. Here, the following 
year, December 14th, they purchased of the Delawares 
thirty-nine sections of land at the junction of the Kansas 
and Missouri rivers, where they settled. In 1850, by another 
treaty, their land was surveyed, allotted, and divided be- 
tween them, and they were allowed to become citizens of 
the United States. 

The Hurons numbered at Lake Superior, in 1668, about 
four hundred souls; at Detroit, in 1736, about two hundred 
men; in 1763, at Detroit about two hundred and fifty men, 
and at Sandusky about two hundred men ; at Sandusky and 
in Michigan, in 1825, about five hundred and seventy-nine; 
and 1853, by a regular census, they numbered in Kansas 
five hundred and fifty-three. 

By the treaty of 1855, it was provided that, upon the ful- 
fillment of certain stipulations, the Wyandots should become 
citizens, and take patents of their lands, the existence of the 
tribe to cease; the greater part of them received their 
patents accordingly. Difficulties, however, accumulated 



166 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

from time to time. Certain of their lands set apart for 
orphans had been taxed by Kansas, and sold ; whites had 
continued to trespass on their lands, and rob them of their 
property, and in 1866 nearly the whole band represented to 
government, " that, however much they may strive to live 
like whites, the people about them, in many cases, appear 
to think that Indians ' have no rights that white men are 
bound to respect,' and that they are constantly robbed of 
their stock and other property, and not able to obtain the 
same redress as white people ;" and asked government to 
let them remove as a band and settle with the Senecas in 
the Indian country, south of Kansas, who, they said, had 
invited them to do so, in grateful remembrance for the 
home which the Wyandots had given the Senecas in Ohio, 
when the latter were fugitives from New York, at the time 
of the revolutionary war. The Wyandots have reached a 
grade of civilization nearly equal to the whites in their 
vicinity, and maintain schools and a Methodist society. 
Had they received fair and Christian treatment from the 
whites in Kansas, their posterity might, in a few years only, 
have been known as the " first families," like the " John 
Randolphs," of Virginia fame. 

LENAPEE, OR DELAWARES. 

This once powerful nation called themselves the Lenapee, 
but as bands of them lived along the Delaware river and 
bay when first settled by the whites, they became known to 
the English as the Delawares. 

The French of Canada alluded to them in February, 1666, 
as the Wampum-makers, against whom the Mohawks and 
Oneidas had then sent a war party". They again speak of 
them in 1670, as "the Andastogues, a tribe bordering on 
New Sweden, well adapted for war." At a treaty between 
the Iroquois and French of Canada, in July, 1673, the 
former asked for the French assistance against " the An- 
dastogues," who were then " strongly fortified with men 



LENAPEE, OK DELAWARES. 167 

and canoes," saying that they had not " the means of going 
to attack them in their fort, which was very strong," The 
French again speak of the Andastogues in February, 1684, 
as having previously " been conquered by the Iroquois and 
the English of ' Merilande,' " and that the English of Albany 
sent an Iroquois chief, who prevented William Penn from 
purchasing the Susquehanna valley of Andastogues. This 
long and destructive war was probably generated by the 
French of Canada about 1664, to engage the Iroquois, and 
prevent them from pursuing their successes against the 
Hurons and their Algonquin allies. As early as 1654, the 
French, for the same purpose, were urging the Iroquois to 
prosecute their war against the Eries ; and the Mohegan 
band, at least, of the Delawares, were their allies against the 
Eries. On the defeat of the Eries, in 1655, the Iroquois 
soon renewed their old war against the French and their 
Indian allies, and about 1664 the Mohegans, by some influ- 
ence, broke their allegiance with the Iroquois, which soon 
involved the whole Delaware nation, and led to their 
subjugation in 1675, and to their taking upon themselves 
the humiliating condition of squaws. In this condition 
William Penn found the Delawares in 1682, docile and 
very friendly; and in this condition he also found their 
great war chief, Tamenend, at his wigwam near Princeton, 
New Jersey, in 1683, who was afterwards canonized as 
" St. Tammany " by the Tammany Society in New York, 
soon after the close of the revolution, in derision of St. 
George, of the tories. Thus fell the acknowledged " grand- 
fathers " of the Algonquin nations, victims to the intrigues 
of European civilization. 

The original territory of the Delawares was situated on 
the south of the Iroquois nations, and north of the lower 
Potomac, extending from the Atlantic to the Alleghany 
mountains, while their powerful band with the totem of a 
wolf, or in their language, the Mohegan, extended to Mas- 
sachusetts. Their leading tradition claims that they and 



168 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

their allies, the Iroquois, had a long war with the Alleghans, 
or Allegeici, which they finally conquered and drove down 
the Mississippi. From this tradition, some have imagined 
that the Alleghans might have been the Mound-Builders, but 
this hypothesis is not corroborated by the traditions of the 
Iroquois ; but by applying this tradition to the defeat of the 
Eries, it becomes quite probable, as it is corroborated by the 
known fact that at least the Mohegans, the northern band 
of the Delawares, assisted the Iroquois in the defeat of the 
Eries ; while the Delaware word "Alleghany " river, refers 
to a stream within the territory of the Eries, and the same 
tribe was beyond the "Alleghany " mountains. 

The Delawares sold William Penn the site of Philadel- 
phia in 1682, and some territory adjoining. The following 
year he attempted to purchase the Susquehanna valley, but 
the English of Albany dispatched" the bold Cayuga chief 
Orewakee, who positively forbade the Delawares selling it, 
and the humiliated squaw nation dare not disobey their 
masters. 

In 1694, a- large band of the Shawnees were permitted to 
settle with the Delawares on the Susquehanna, by the 
Iroquois. Difficulties finally occurred between the whites 
and Delawares, and Shawnees, and in 1740 we find the 
Governor of Canada intriguing with the Delawares and 
Shawnees, and inviting them to settle in Ohio. In 1743 a 
large part of the war parties emigrated to Ohio, and the 
Christian bands were forced to follow in 1767. In a pre- 
vious chapter we have traced their history in Ohio until 
after the war of 1812. A part of the Delawares and Shaw- 
nees of Ohio, being unwilling to continue the war with the 
whites, in 1793 emigrated west of the Missouri. The bal- 
ance of the Delawares sold their lands in Ohio in 1818 and 
1829, to the United States, and in 1832 joined their brethren 
in Kansas. The treaty of 1854 provided for a sale of part 
of their land in Kansas, and an allotment in severalty of 
the balance. In 1860 many of thenr had become good 



MOHEGANS. 169 

farmers, and maintained a mission school in charge of the 
Baptists, and their agents report them the richest nation per 
capita on the globe. They put 160 volunteers into the 
Union army during the rebellion. 

In 1763 their various bands on the Susquehanna, Mus- 
kingum, and Lake Erie, were estimated at 600 men; in 
1825, in Missouri, at 1,800 souls; and by the census of 1853, 
there were found 1,132 souls on their reservation in Kansas. 

The Delawares have been much annoyed by their white 
neighbors, and many of them being desirous to move again 
to the Indian country, the United States made a treaty with 
them July 4, 1866, which was ratified, and published August 
10, of the same year, by which their reservation of nearly 
100,000 acres is to be sold to the Missouri River Railroad 
Company, " except such as is held by Indians who may elect 
to remain in Kansas and become citizens." Those wishing 
to remove are to be provided with a new home in the Indian 
country. A small band of the Munsee of the Delawares are 
associated with the Stockbridge Indians in Wisconsin. 

MOHEGANS. 

Mohegan, or in French orthography, Jfahingan, accord- 
ing to the Algonquin language signified wolf; hence the 
French called them Loups. They belonged to the Delaware 
band, with the totem the wolf, which were located near 
Minisink, New York, at the first settlement of the country. 
They were often called the " River Indians," and " Canoe 
Indians," by the whites, as they were found along the Hud- 
son and Connecticut rivers, and Long Island sound. They 
belonged to the great Delaware nation, and by them were 
called " Grandsons." Other bands of the Mohegans, called 
Pequods, Pokanoket, Narragansetts, and Massachusetts, 
occupied eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

The first whites which landed in Massachusetts violated 
the hospitality of the Indians, by stealing a number of them 
and selling them into slavery in the West Indies ; hence the 
11* 



170 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

whites became known only as enemies, and the first party 
of Pilgrims which landed in 1620 were boldly attacked by 
the Indians. In May, 1637, followed the Pequod war, and 
that band was annihilated or sold into slavery in the West 
Indies. The Dutch war followed in 1643, and, according 
to Dutch authority, the cruel Governor Kieft indiscrimi- 
nately put to death 2,000 men, women, and children, in no 
instance sparing either age or sex. 

The Mohegans became involved with their grandfathers 
the Delawares in the great war with the Iroquois in about 
1664, and in 1675, with the Delawares, were content to 
assume the position of squaws. 

King Phillip's war came on in 1675, and the Narragan- 
setts, Pokanokets, and Massachusetts, ceased to exist as 
independent bands. The pious Elliot had spent forty 
years in learning the Massachusetts dialect of the Mohegan 
language, had translated the Bible into that dialect, and suc- 
ceeded in establishing fourteen Christian villages, but when 
the war cloud cleared away, four decimated bleeding vil- 
lages were all that were left of his forty years' labor, and his 
new Bible was found to be literally in a " dead language." 

The surviving Mohegans of the Connecticut and Hudson 
rivers for many years continued a kind of wandering life, 
and were allies of the whites through the subsequent wars 
with the French and Canada Indians. 

After the close of the French and Indian war, and in 
1765, the census of Massachusetts showed 1,569 Indians 
and half-breeds, scattered through seven counties, as the 
relic of all the powerful tribes which once inhabited that 
region; and in 1860 that number was reduced to 317, 
nearly all of whom were in the Marshpee district. 

Two small bands of Christian Indians, however, con- 
tinued to exist, one the Brothertown, and the other the 
Stockbridge, or, as the latter called themselves, " Mohekun- 
nucks." The latter band removed to New York previous 
to 1794, and the former followed soon after, and both were 



MOHEGANS. 171 

permitted to settle with the Oneidas, where they were 
joined by the small band of Delawares called the Munsees, 
from the Susquehanna. These three bands emigrated to 
Wisconsin with the Oneidas in 1821, and in 1831 were 
allowed to settle on three townships of territory purchased 
from the Menominies, on the east side of Lake Winnebago. 
The Brothertowns soon became citizens of the United 
States, but the Stockbridge and Munsees had divided 
councils, and part of them became citizens, and about one- 
fifth removed to Kansas soon after 1846. 

The Stockbridges and Munsees, who remained in Wis- 
consin, sold their reservation, and in 1856 removed to two 
townships in the timbered country further north, being 
township twenty-eight, north of ranges thirteen and fourteen 
east. This new reservation proved to be too barren and 
frosty for agricultural productions, and in 1866 they were 
reported in a very destitute condition ; but the commissioner 
of Indian affairs sent them $1,000 out of the fund to pur- 
chase "provisions for Indians," which, it was believed, 
would keep them from suffering. Their school averaged 
eighteen scholars in the summer of 1866, and was taught by 
Rev. J. Slingerland, a native teacher. They also organized 
a Methodist church the same year, with about twenty mem- 
bers of the class. In 1856 they numbered 409 souls, but 
the discontent on account of their poor reservation, had so 
scattered them in 1866, that there were but 152 left, only 
one of whom was a Munsee. These speak English, and are 
the " last of the Mohegans." 

Publisher's Note. A small band of from three to five hundred 
of the Mohegans were settled in Connecticut on the Thames river, 
about five miles below Norwich, where a missionary, for several 
years, previous to 1845, Rev. Mr. Gleason, Congregationalist, a man 
of large heart and burning zeal, and a school-teacher, were for many 
years located, and labored with pretty good success. But their close 
proximity to whisky, and the indifferent quality of their soil, were 
constant drawbacks upon the progress in religion and civilization 
of these poor Indians. They have wasted away until only a mere 
remnant remains. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE ILLINOIS CONFEDERACY. 

Under the name of this confederacy, we class : 

1. The Illini, or " the men," who formerly occupied the 
country between the Illinois and Wabash rivers. 

2. The Miami, who occupied the Wabash and Maumee 
rivers, and whom the early missionaries called an Illinois 
tribe. 

3. The Mascotens, who occupied the eastern part of the 
State of Michigan. 

4. The Kickapoo, a northern band, according to Shawnee 
tradition, of that tribe, who probably lived between the 
Miamies and Shawnees; and 

5. The Shawano, or people of the south, who occupied 
the central valley of the Ohio river, and who in later years 
the English have called Shawnees. 

We have classified these several tribes as a confederacy, 
not from any knowledge that they were the same people, or 
associated in government, but solely on account of their 
associations and similarity in customs and languages. 

THE ILLINOIS. 

This nation, consisting of the bands called Peorias, Kas- 
kaskias, Kaokias, Tamarois, and Michigamias, occupied the 
country between the Illinois and Wabash rivers, and first 
became known to the French in the treaty with Nicolet, at 
Green Bay in 1639. The following year, they made a mur- 



THE ILLINOIS. 173 

derous assault on the Winnebagoes, but soon returned their 
prisoners and reinstated that tribe. In 1660 the Iroquois 
fell upon them, and drove the most of them beyond the 
Mississippi. Part of the Michigamias fled to the Wisconsin 
river, and the balance of that band to the Arkansas river. 
The most of the Illinois having returned to Cheir country, 
they were again attacked by the Iroquois, September 10, 
1680, and about 1,200 either killed or taken prisoners. This 
nation was constantly engaged in wars until modern times, 
when they became almost extinct. In 1736, they were 
estimated as follows : Michigamias, at Fort Chartres, 250 
men; Kaskaskias, six leagues below, 100 men; Peorias at 
the Rock, 50 men ; and Kaokias and Tamarois, 200 men. 

The United States made a treaty with this tribe (except 
the Peorias), August 13, 1803, the first article of which is 
as follows : 

"Article 1st. Whereas, from a variety of unfortunate 
circumstances, the several tribes of Illinois Indians are 
reduced to a very small number, the remains of which have 
been long consolidated and known by the name of the 
Kaskaskia tribe, and finding themselves unable to occupy 
the extensive tract of country which of right belongs to 
them, and which was possessed by their ancestors for many 
generations, the chiefs and warriors of the said tribe, being 
also desirous of procuring the means of improvement in the 
arts of civilized life, and a more certain and effectual support 
for their women and children, have, for the considerations 
hereinafter mentioned, relinquished, and by these presents 
do relinquish and cede to the United States, all the lands in 
the Illinois country, which the said tribe has heretofore 
possessed, or which they may rightfully claim ; reserving to 
themselves, however, the tract of about three hundred and 
fifty acres near the town of Kaskaskia, which they have 
always held, and which was secured to them by the act of 
Congress of the third day of March, 1791 ; and also the 
right of locating one other tract of twelve hundred and 



174 UPPBR MISSISSIPPI. 

eighty acres within the bounds of that now ceded, which two 
tracts of land shall remain to them forever." 

This treaty did not include the Peoria band of the Illinois, 
nor their territory ; hence a new treaty was made, Septem- 
ber 25th. 1818, with the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Michigamia, 
Cahoki, and Tamarois, specially describing the whole terri- 
tory ceded by the united tribe as follows : " Beginning at 
the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, thence up 
the Ohio to the mouth of Saline creek, about twelve miles 
below the mouth of the Wabash ; thence along the dividing 
ridge between the waters of said creek and the Wabash to 
the general dividing ridge between the waters which fall 
into the Wabash and those which fall into the Kaskaskia 
river; thence along the said ridge until it reaches the 
waters which fall into the IDinois river ; thence, in a direct 
line to the confluence of the Kankakee and Maple rivers ; 
thence down the Illinois river to its confluence with the 
Mississippi river, and down the latter to the beginning." 

For this cession the United States agreed to pay the 
Peoria band $2,000 in merchandise, an annuity of three 
hundred dollars for twelve years, and give them six hundred 
and forty acres of land, " including their village on Black- 
water river, in the territory of Missouri." 

By the treaty of October 27th, 1832, the Kaskaskias 
ceded to the United States their reservation in Illinois, 
except the three hundred and fifty acres near Kaskaskia, 
which they reserved " to Ellen De Coigne, the daughter of 
their late chief, who has married a white man ;" also released 
to the United States their permanent annuity of $1,000, and 
salt annuity ; and the Peorias ceded all their land in Mis- 
souri and Illinois, and all other claims. For which the 
United States ceded to the united bands of Illinois Indians 
one hundred and fifty sections of land, " as long as they live 
upon it," which was " to include the present Peoria village, 
west of the State of Missouri, on the waters of the Osage 
river, to be bounded as follows, to wit : North, by lands 



THE MIAMIES, MASCOTENS, AND KICKAPOOS. 175 

assigned to the Shawnees ; west, by the western line of the 
reservation made for the Piankeshaws. Weas, and Peorias ; 
and east, by lands assigned the Piankeshaws and Weas." 
Also, gave the united bands $3,000, as an annuity, for ten 
successive years ; also, $1,600 to Kaskaskias for salt annuity ; 
and horses lost, three hundred and fifty dollars ; to Peorias 
for improvements on land left, two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars ; to the united bands, four hundred dollars in stock, 
" three iron-bound carts, three yoke of oxen, and six 
ploughs ;" also build for them " four log houses ;" to pay 
for breaking and fencing, three hundred dollars ; to buy iron 
and steel, fifty dollars annually for four years ; to pay on 
ratification of treaty, eight hundred dollars in goods, and 
$1,000 for provisions and expenses of removal. 

In 1858 these tribes, with the Piankeshaws and Weas, 
collectively, numbered only about two hundred souls, and 
had made some advance in civilization, and still occupied 
their reservation on the Osage. In 1865 the population of 
all these bands had increased to two hundred and thirty-six. 
Their individual personal property averaged one hundred 
and forty dollars each. By their treaty of 1854, the allot- 
ment system was adopted, and each Indian generally has 
his separate farm. They have no separate school, but 
several of their children attend St. Mary's school, among 
the Potowatomies. They often express a wish for a school 
and preaching. Several of them are members of churches. 
They have no annuities. 

THE MIAMIES, MASCOTENS, AND KICKAPOOS. 

The Mascotens, or " Fire nation," were known to the 
French in 1615, being then at war with the Eries. The 
three tribes were driven out of their country about 1660, 
and took shelter with the Sacs and Foxes on the Wisconsin 
river, on the borders of the Wisconsin forests, where they 
were found, April 30th, 1670, by the Jesuit missionary, Rev. 
Father Allouez, who said of the Miamies and Mascotens 



176 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

that they numbered " more than 3,000 souls, being able each 
one to furnish four hundred men to defend themselves 
against the Iroquois, who come even into these distant 
countries to seek them." Rev. Father Marquette, in 1673, 
found these three tribes on the Wisconsin river ; but pre- 
vious to 1680, according to Father Membre, the Miamies 
changed their residence to St. Joseph, Michigan, and had 
become allies of the Iroquois against the Illinois. La 
Honton, who visited the upper Mississippi in 1680, and 
published his travels in France in 1705, locates the Miamies 
and a band of the Mascotens on the St. Joseph's river, and 
bands of the Miamies, called Aouiatinons, at Detroit, 
Maumee, and Wabash rivers. In 1751 the Miamies were 
on the Wabash. The Kickapoos, whom the Shawnees 
claim were a part of their tribe, with a band of the Masco- 
tens, continued to occupy villages on the Wisconsin river, 
and were generally allies of the Sacs, Foxes, and Winne- 
bagoes, up to 1754, when we find them associated with the 
Potowatomies and Sioux in a war against the Peorias of 
Illinois. 

The Mascotens, who returned south-east with the Miamies, 
seem to have settled near the Sciota, for,' according to the 
Governor of Canada, the Shawnees of Pennsylvania, in 
1743, settled at the " Prairie of the Mascotens." In 1763, 
Colonel William Johnson locates near the Wabash a band 
of the Kickapoos, numbering one hundred and eighty, and 
one of the Mascotens, numbering ninety, and as belonging 
to the Miami confederacy. After our revolutionary war, 
the name of the Mascotens disappears from among the 
Indians of the north-west, and that tribe probably joined 
the band of Kickapoos, who many years ago emigrated 
south-west, and are now among the Creeks in the Indian 
country. 

The balance of the Kickapoos sold their lands on the 
Wabash in 1832, removed south-west of the Missouri river, 
and in 1854 settled on their present reservation of 150,000 



THE MIAMIES, MASCOTENS, AND KICKAPOOS. 177 

acres, located on the Grasshopper river, about thirty-three 
miles west of St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1859 they numbered 
on the reservation, 350, and were in about ninety families; 
some with farms which contained 100 acres. The wild 
bands return at the time of the government payments, and 
receive their proportion of the annuities. They had, in 1865, 
800 acres under cultivation, with two frame, and forty log 
houses, and raised 600 bushels of wheat, 20,000 bushels of 
corn, 800 of oats, 1,500 of potatoes, and 200 of turnips. 

The allotment of land was not generally adopted ty the 
tribe, only thirty families having accepted farms ; and the 
remainder occupy land in common. One hundred and 
twenty, who had been absent from the tribe since August 1, 

1864, rumor says, had been cut off by the wild Indians in the 
south-west. At least, they had not returned in November, 

1865. The unsettled condition of affairs during the rebel- 
lion had operated to create dissatisfaction, and many of their 
cattle and horses had passed into the hands of thieves. 
Many were anxious to sell out and remove to the south-west, 
but the chiefs refused to make a treaty to that effect in 1866. 
The mission-school, under the charge of the Methodists, 
which had been very successful, was finally discontinued in 
the latter part of 1864, but government reestablished a 
school in June, 1866, from the educational fund. There is 
a great probability that part of the tribe have, or will, return 
to the wild state, and chase the buffalo in their annual 
circuits along the foot of the Rocky mountains. Their 
annuities are $5,000 interest, and an installment on principal 
of $5,000. They have been loyal to the government during 
the late rebellion. 

There are small bands of Miamies still occupying the Eel 
river reservation in Indiana, but the most of them, including 
the Weeas and Piankashaws, sold their lands in Indiana in 
1840, and removed to a reservation on the Osage river, the 
two latter bands associating with the Peorias of Illinois, 
with whom we shall further speak of them. By the treaty 
12 



178 TJPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

of 1854, the Miamies adopted the allotment in severalty of 
their lands, and each one has his separate farm. In 1865, 
they numbered one hundred and twenty-seven souls, had 
nine frame, and eleven log houses, cultivated 503 acres, and 
raised 200 bushels of wheat, 8,500 of corn, and 500 of pota- 
toes. Their reservation contained 57,600 acres, and their 
personal property averaged $120 each. Their annuities were 
$1,540, for expense of smith-shop, mills, etc; $13,562.89 
interest, and one annual installment of $7,500. They fur- 
nished three soldiers for the Union army. 

The Eel river (Indiana) Miamies had an annuity of 
$1,100 of interest. A large proportion of these have become 
thoroughly civilized, and many of them devoted Christians, 
connected with the Baptist denomination. Two, brothers- 
in-law, were licensed to preach, and became very eloquent, 
effective preachers, among their tribe. Bruilette, the eldest 
of these, was an old warrior and a drunken fighter. But the 
grace of God subdued his wicked passions, and transformed 
the lion to the lamb. In that heart where sin abounded, 
grace did much more abound, and he lived several years 
exemplifying the spirit of Jesus, and in the summer of 1867 
died the death of the righteous. 

SHAWANO, OR SOUTHRONS. 

The name of this tribe was Shawanons, according to the 
early French authors, which, in the Miami language, means 
Southrons, or the people of the south ; evidently given 
them because they lived on the Ohio, to the south of the 
Miamies. The English contracted the word to Shawanees, 
and in later years, to Shawnees, by which they are known 
in modern times. According to Marquette, in 1673, they 
had thirty-eight villages on the Ohio river, near each other, 
and " are the people the Iroquois go far to seek, in order to 
wage an unprovoked war upon." According to the same 
authority in 1668, a party of the same tribe visited the 
Illinois Indians, after thirty days' journey from east south- 



SHAWANO, OR, SOUTHRONS. 179 

east, with many glass beads, which showed that they had 
visited the whites, probably in Carolina. According to the 
Iroquois authority given the French in 1680, that nation 
attacked the Illinois Indians about 1660, and drove them 
out of the country. It is true the Iroquois do not mention 
the Shawnees as one of their bands, yet as the Illinois, 
Miamies, and Shawnees, spoke nearly the same dialect, it is 
reasonable to suppose, in connection with the statement of 
Marquette, that the Shawnees were driven out of the country 
at the same time with the Illinois, and retired to the south, 
where bands of them were seen on the head-waters of the 
Santee, according to Lawson, and on the head-waters of the 
Mobile, according to Adair ; and a band of them might even 
have gone to Florida, according to General Harrison, where 
Black Hoof was said to have been born previous to 1750. 
Rev. Father Gravier, long a missionary among the Illinois 
previous to 1700, speaks of the Shawnees as living on the 
Tennessee river ; and Charlevoix located a band of them, in 
1721, between the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. In 
1693, the Shawnees made a treaty of peace with the 
Iroquois, with the help of the English of Pennsylvania, and 
a band of nearly 700 settled near the Delawares in Pennsyl- 
vania, the following year. They came to Pennsylvania by 
way of Pittsburgh. In about 1740, we find the Governor 
of Canada intriguing with the Shawnees, to induce them to 
return to the Ohio valley; and in 1743 the Pennsylvania 
Shawnees returned and settled on the Sciota, and a war 
with the Cherokees is understood as having driven the 
bands from the Tennessee to the same locality, about the 
same time. Mr. Schoolcraft puts this emigration to the 
Ohio from the south in 1640, which is evidently an error of 
100 years, as we have no knowledge of the Shawnees pre- 
vious to 1660. General Harrison, in his historical address 
in 1838, claimed that the Shawnees never occupied the Ohio 
valley until a short time previous to 1750, and based his 
statement on that of Black Hoof, who claimed to have been 



180 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

born in Florida. General Harrison does not even allude to 
the fact that a large band of the Shawnees lived in Penn- 
sylvania, and was also evidently unacquainted with the 
French explorations in the north-west. Some authors have 
intimated that the Shawnees might have been the remnant 
of the Eries, but this hypothesis is destroyed by the fact 
that the Eries spoke a dialect of the Huron-Iroquois, while 
the Shawnees speak a dialect of the Miami- Algonquin. The 
name of the tribe is also fatal to this hypothesis. 

A band of the Shawnees emigrated west of the Missouri 
river as early as 1793, but the balance remained in Ohio 
until 1832, when they sold out their lands to the United 
States, and, about four hundred strong, emigrated to and 
accepted a reservation of 200,000 acres of land west of the 
Missouri and south of the Kansas rivers. 

In 1736 they were estimated to contain two hundred men ; 
in 1763, three hundred men; in 1825, eight hundred souls; 
and in 1853, including the Dela wares, 1,400. In 1865 the 
census numbered them at eight hundred and forty-five per- 
sons. Under their treaty of 1854, seven hundred of the 
Shawnees selected their farms in severalty, and the balance 
formed the Black Bob settlement, and continued to hold 
their lands in common. They have banished whisky, and 
many of them have fine farms under cultivation. 

Their school is under charge of the Society of Friends, 
and in 1865 contained forty scholars, and was quite pros- 
perous. Nearly twenty children attend the State schools. 
Both Methodists and Friends have religious services once 
each week among the Shawnees. 

Their reservation contains 200,000 acres, on which there 
were forty-five frame houses, and one hundred and fifty log 
houses. They raised, in 1865, 3,000 bushels wheat, 20,000 
bushels corn, 2,500 bushels oats, and a proportional of 
vegetables. They also had 300 horses, 600 cattle, 1,000 
swine, and 580 sheep. 

Being on the border of Missouri, they suffered from the 



SHAWANO, OR SOUTHRONS. 181 

rebel raids, and particularly that of General Price in 1864. 
They furnished for the Union army one hundred and 
twenty -five enlisted men, and a company of home guards. 
They furnish an instance of the successful civilization of 
an Indian tribe. In the spring of 1866 a treaty was made 
with the tribe providing for the sale of lands, and. authoriz- 
ing such as desired it to remove to Indian territory, but it 
had not been ratified by the Senate in November of that 
year. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE WINNEBAGO CONFEDEKACY. 

When Sieur Jean Nicolet visited the O-chimk-o-raws, or 
Winnebagoes, at Green Bay in 1639, he spoke of them as 
then " sedentary and very numerous ;" but this fact has 
since been doubted, as the following year they were nearly 
exterminated by the Illinois, and if so easily exterminated, it 
was thought that they could not have been very numerous. 
Again, it was said by authors that the Winnebagoes were 
only an insignificant band of the Sioux, speaking a dialect 
of the Sioux language; but later investigations into the 
language of the O-chunk-o-raws and several other western 
tribes seem to establish the fact that they are the parent 
nation to a confederacy, of an independent language, reach- 
ing from Lake Superior south to the Red river, and com- 
posed of the Winnebagoes, Menominies, Iowas, Missouris, 
Osages, Kansas, Quapaws, Ottoes, Omahas, Ponkas, and 
Meandans, and perhaps some others. 

On this subject the Rev. William Hamilton, who had 
previously for fifteen years been a missionary among the 
Iowas, and had published a grammar of their language, in 
answer to questions from H. R. Schoolcraft, wrote that 
gentleman in about 1853 as follows : "There is no more 
difference between the language of the Iowas, Otoes, and 
Menominies, than between the language of a New Eng- 
lander and Southerner. A few words are Common to one 
tribe, and not to the other. They say the Winnebago is the 



WINNEBAGO CONFEDERACY. 183 

first language. This may be true ; if so, the Iowa, Otoe, 
and Missouri language would be one dialect ; the Om alias 
and Ponka another ; the Konza, Osage, Quapaw, and 
Ahachae (a band of the Osages) another ; or, perhaps, the 
Omahas, Pongkaws (Poncas,) Konzas, etc., might all be 
called one dialect." ..." The Osage, Konza, Quapaw, 
etc., are the same language. The Omaha and Ponka are 
the same. Some say there is no difference between the 
language of the first and last named ; others say there is 
some difference. I inquired of a Konza Indian, not long 
since, who said they were the same : he could understand 
all the Omaha. Many words of the Winnebagoes are the 
same in Iowa ; so some of the old men who speak Win- 
nebago tell me." (See History of the Indian Tribes, by 
Schoolcraft Part IV., pages 405 and 406.) 

In the same volume, at page 227, J. E. Fletcher, Esq., 
Indian agent to the Winnebagoes, writes : " The Winne- 
bagoes claim that they are an original stock ; and that the 
Missouris, Iowas, Otoes, and Omahas sprung from them. 
These Indians call the Winnebagoes their elder brothers ; 
and the similarity of their language renders it probable that 
they belong to the same stock. Even in 1670 the Winne- 
bagoes told Rev. Father Allouez that " there were only 
certain people of the south-west who spoke as they did." 

To this testimony we may add that of Mr. Saterlee Clark, 
an old Winnebago trader, and one of the few who ever 
learned that language, that he could converse with and 
understand the Iowas, and that the Iowas called themselves 
O-chunk-o-raws ; the late statement of the Winnebagoes to 
General Sully, that they spoke the same language as the 
Omahas; and the further statement of James Reed, Esq., 
of Trempealeau county, Wisconsin, to the writer, that he 
had not been able even to learn the Winnebago language, 
on account of its being so deeply guttural, notwithstand- 
ing he had many years spoken Sioux, been a farmer and 
trader amongst them, and had. a cousin of the Chief 



184 TJPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 

Wabasha as his wife. This, we imagine, makes a strong 
case against the assertion that the Winnebago is only a 
dialect of the Sioux. 

When Sieur Nicolet assembled four or five thousand of 
Winnebagoes, Sioux, Illinois, and Potowatomies, at Green 
Bay, in 1639, for a general council, is it not probable that 
there came also the Menominies, Iowas, Osages, and other 
kindred bands of the Winnebagoes, and from their numbers 
he correctly came to the conclusion that the Winnebagoes 
were " sedentary and very numerous ?" They then evidently 
occupied the territory from near Mackinaw south-west to 
the Red river, extending east as far as the Illinois river, the 
Mississippi, and the lower Ohio valley. For over thirty 
years later, and after the advent of the fugitive Algonquins, 
the eight Illinois bands were on Illinois river as their real 
homes, although Marquette, June 25th, 1673, found the 
Peorias on the Mississippi when descending the river ; but 
they had returned to the Illinois when he came back, some 
two months after. Rev. Father Allouez also found the 
Illinois on the Illinois river in 1677. Thus was evidently 
situated the Winnebago confederacy in 1639, u sedentary 
and very numerous." 

OCHrXNK-O-RAW. 

The traditions of the O-chunk-o-raw, claim that that tribe 
was created at the Mbke-kaw-shoots-raw, or red earth 
banks, on the south shore of Green Bay. They were known 
to the Algonquin tribe by the name of " Winnebagoec," or 
people of the salt water ; and as the Algonquin word for 
salt water and stinking water was the same, the French 
gave them the name of La JPuants, or stinkards. They, 
however, call themselves the O-chunk-o-raw. 

This tribe was spoken of by Sieur Champlain, who visited 
Lake Huron in 1615, and the novelty of their name probably 
induced the French Governor of Canada to send Sieur 
Nicolet, his Indian interpreter, to visit them in 1639, in 



0-CHUNK-O-EAW. 185 

hopes of discovering the western ocean. They continued 
to occupy Green Bay, Fox river, and Lake Winnebago, until 
modern times, and were generally allies of the Sacs and 
Foxes in the old Indian wars. They were, after 1754, allies 
of the French while they held Canada; and afterwards of 
the British, until the close of the war of 1812. 

In 1816 the United States concluded a treaty of peace 
with the Portage band, under the chief Choo-ke-kaio, or the 
Ladle ; more commonly known by his French name, " De 
Carry." This band agreed to separate themselves from the 
balance of the tribe until they made a treaty of peace also, 
and delivered up their prisoners. The O-chunk-o-raws 
joined the tribes at the great council with the United States, 
held at Prairie Du Chien, August 19th, 1825. The treaty 
concluded at this council, defined the boundary of the 
Winnebago territory as follows : " It is agreed between 
the Winnebagoes and the Sioux, Sacs and Foxes, Chippe- 
ways and Ottawas, and Chippeways and Potowatomies of 
the Illinois, that the Winnebago country shall be bounded 
as follows : South-easterly by Rock river, from its source, 
near the Winnebago lake, to the Winnebago village, about 
forty miles above its mouth ; westerly, by the east line of 
the tract lying upon the Mississippi, herein secured to 
the Ottawas, Chippeways and Potowatomies, of the Illinois ; 
and also by the high bluff described in the Sioux boundary, 
and running north to Black river; from this point, the 
Winnebagoes claim up Black river to a point due west from 
the source of the left fork of the Ouisconsin ; thence to the 
source of said fork, and down the same to the Ouisconsin ; 
thence down the Ouisconsin to the Portage, and across 
the Portage to Fox river ; thence down Fox river to the 
Winnebago lake, and to the grand Kcvu-kaidln, including 
in their claim the whole of Winnebago lake." The line 
mentioned as secured to the Ottawas, etc., extended from 
the Wisconsin river south, along " the sources of the small 
streams running into the Mississippi." The Sioux claimed 
12* 



186 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

to the bluffs east of the Mississippi from opposite the mouth 
of Iowa river, to the mouth of Black river. By the treaty 
of August 11, 1827, between the United States and the 
Chippeways, Menominies and Winnebagoes, our govern- 
ment stipulated that "the sum of $1,000 shall be annually 
appropriated for the term of three years ; and the sum of 
$1,500 shall be annually thereafter appropriated as long as 
Congress think proper, for the education of the children of 
the tribes parties thereto, and of the New York Indians near 
Green Bay, to be expended under the direction of the 
President of the United States." 

In 1827 a difficulty broke out between the Winnebagoes 
and Chippeways, which came near involving the whites in 
a war. It appears that some Winnebagoes attacked and 
killed eight Chippeways near Fort Snelling, whereupon the 
commandant of that fort took four of the offending Winne- 
bagoes, and delivered them to the Chippeways, who imme- 
diately put them to death. Red Bird's band soon after 
attacked two keel boats at the mouth of Coon Slough, on 
the Mississippi, killing two, and wounding six whites ; while 
Red Bird himself killed two whites at Prairie Du Chien. 
The alarm spread to the miners who were digging lead 
north of Galena, who fled to that town, and immediately 
organized for war, electing General Dodge for their com- 
mander. General Atkinson, with a small force of regular 
troops, marched up the Wisconsin river, and, being joined 
by the miners, under General Dodge, advanced to attack 
the Winnebagoes in force at the Portage ; but on the arrival 
of the troops at that place, the Winnebagoes sent a flag and 
delivered up Red Bird, and six others, as the guilty parties, 
which ended the war. 

The following year the United States made an attempt to 
purchase the Winnebago lands, including the lead mines, 
and failed ; but by the treaty at Prairie Du Chien, concluded 
August 1, 1829, the tribe ceded their territory south of the 
Wisconsin river, and west of a line running south from 



0-CHUNK-OEAW. 187 

Lake Puckaway, by Duck creek, Fourth lake, near Madison, 
Sugar river, and Pee-kee-tol-a-Jca, by which the Winnebago 
interest in the mines was secured to the United States. 
The consideration for the territory purchased was $8,000 
paid annually for thirty years ; $30,000 in goods paid down, 
and 3,000 pounds of tobacco, and fifty barrels of salt deliv- 
ered annually for thirty years. 

By the treaty of September 15, 1832, the Winnebagoes 
ceded to the United States all the balance of their lands 
south of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, for which the gov- 
ernment gave them an interest in the " neutral grounds " 
west of the Mississippi, an annual annuity for twenty-seven 
successive years, of $10,000, and further agreed to establish 
and maintain a school at Prairie Du Cbien for twenty-seven 
years, at an annual expense not exceeding $3,000 ; support 
six agriculturalists for twenty-seven years ; pay not exceed- 
ing $2,500 for twelve yoke of oxen and agricultural imple- 
ments; pay the Rock river band 1,500 pounds of tobacco 
per annum ; and pay $200 per annum each, for the services 
of two physicians, one stationed at Fort Winnebago, and 
the other at Prairie du Chien. The treaty contained some 
small grants of land to half-breeds, and required the tribe to 
surrender eight Indians, charged with the murder of some 
whites in the Black Hawk war. 

By another treaty, of the first of November, 1837, the 
Winnebagoes ceded to the United States all the balance of 
their territory on the east side of the Mississippi river, and 
certain interests on the west side, for which our government 
paid $1,500,000. Of this amount, $100,000 was to be ex- 
pended in goods, horses, provisions, opening farms, and 
expenses of the removal of the Indians west of the Missis- 
sippi, where the tribe engaged to go in eight months after 
the ratification of the treaty. However, they did not per- 
form that agreement until 1840. 

The eighth treaty with the Winnebagoes, was made at 
Washington, D. C, October 13, 1846, by which the tribe 



188 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

surrendered all their interests in lands in the United States, 
for which, the United States engaged to give the tribe 800,000 
acres of land north of the St. Peters, or Minnesota river, for 
a residence, and pay in addition, $190,000. Under this 
treaty, the chiefs of the tribe selected a tract of country 
north of the Watab, but the tribe were generally dissatisfied 
with the location, and the most of them remained scattered 
about the country. In 1853 a new treaty was made, by 
which they were allowed to change their location to the 
Crow river ; but the ratification of this treaty was refused 
on the remonstrance of the people of Minnesota. The 
matter was compromised by the United States, and in 
February, 1855, the chiefs were permitted to select their 
lands on the Blue Earth river, south of the Minnesota. 
Here the tribe settled the same spring, highly satisfied with 
their land, and immediately commenced building houses and 
improving land. So well had they succeeded, that the gov- 
ernment agent at St. Paul, in 1860, reported of them as 
follows : " There have been raised by individual Indians as 
high as sixty acres of wheat alone on a single farm. The 
reservation presents the appearance of as much improve- 
ment as the surrounding country ; and in fact, when viewing 
the comfortable log and frame houses that dot the reserva- 
tion as far as the eye can reach, it presents a far different 
scene than is usual to be found upon Indian reservations, 
for wigwams are becoming as rare as houses were but two 
years since." 

The same year the teacher of the school reported 118 
pupils enrolled, of which sixty-two w T ere males, and fifty-six 
females ; that they were instructed in the ordinary English 
branches, and had " as much educational capacity as can 
be found in any school of an equal size." 

But in the midst of their prosperity, when their civiliza- 
tion had become almost a certainty, the occurrence of the 
" Sioux massacre," in June, 1862, dashed their fond hopes 
to the ground. Notwithstanding the Winnebagoes took no 



OCHTJNK-O-RAW. 189 

part with the Sioux in that affair, but offered the services of 
their warriors to our government, to help punish that rebel- 
lious nation, yet the exasperated inhabitants of Minnesota 
demanded the removal of the Whmebagoes, and Congress, 
by a special act, directed the President to transport them to 
the Missouri river with the friendly Sioux. Accordingly, 
in May and June, 1863, without any treaty, they were loaded 
upon steamers and taken to the Missouri river, where, in 
the language of a missionary to the writer, " they were, like 
the Sioux, dumped in the desert one hundred miles above 
Fort Randall." When the purposes of government became 
known to the tribe, the old chiefs, De Carry, Winneshiek, 
Dandy and their families, and some others, fled to Wiscon- 
sin, where, near the tunnel, in the fall of 1864, the venerable 
old chief, De Carry, who captured Black Hawk in 1832, 
and sent him to the government agent at Prairie Du Chien, 
died in poverty. He was very old, but remarkably intelli- 
gent, and was grandson of Ho-po-ko-e-kaw, or Glory of the 
Morning, the chieftess of the tribe when visited by Captain 
Carver in 1766, and of her French husband De Carry, who 
was mortally wounded at Quebec near the close of the old 
French and Indian war. In 1862 the writer spent several 
days with him, taking notes of his family and tribe, while 
his family were gathering their summer harvest of berries 
near Mont Trempealeau. 

Soon after the Winnebagoes were landed at Crow creek, 
Dakota territory, they pronounced the country not fit for 
cultivation, and were greatly dissatisfied. They soon com- 
menced the manufacture of canoes, to return down the 
river. Brigadier-General Sully visited their reservation, 
and July 15, 1863, sent a dispatch to General Pope, in 
which he remarked : " I find both tribes (Sioux and Win- 
nebagoes) very discontented, and if troops are not constantly 
kept here, I think there will be trouble. 

" The Winnebagoes I find hard at work making canoes, 
with the intention of quitting the agency and going to join 



190 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the Omahas, or some other tribes down the river. I had a 
council with them yesterday, in which they said they had 
been promised, when they left their last reservation, to be 
settled on the Big Sioux river. How true that is I can not 
say. 

" They also stated that nothing would grow here. They 
dare not go out to hunt, for fear of the other tribes, and 
they would all starve to death. This I believe to be true, 
without the government intends to ration them all the time. 
The land is dry, sandy, and parched up." 

In a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, dated the fol- 
lowing day, General Sully remarked : 

" I state this from my own knowledge of the country. 
The land is poor ; a low, sandy soil. I don't think you can 
depend on a crop of corn even once in five years, as it 
seldom rains here in the summer. There is no hunting in 
their immediate vicinity, and the bands of Sioux near here 
are hostile to them. 

" They (the Winnebagoes) tell me they are friends of the 
Omahas, and speak nearly the same language. It is their 
wish to be united with them on the Omaha reservation, and, 
as they say, the Omahas are in favor of this also. 

" Their last removal from Minnesota was hard for them, 
for they were not implicated in the late massacre," etc. 

The Indian agent for the Omahas, October 16th, 1863, 
reported the continued arrival of small parties of Winne- 
bagoes at that reservation in a destitute condition, and he 
was soon after instructed from Washington to provide for 
all that arrived. In September, 1864, over 1,200 had 
arrived, and the agent, with the consent of the Omahas, 
had assigned them a tract of land for temporary cultivation, 
and they had harvested one hundred acres of corn. 

Soon after this, the Winnebagoes contracted with the 
Omahas for nearly one-third of their reservation, at about 
thirty-nine cents an acre, of which the Indian agent said, 
September 15th, 1865 : " If this agreement be ratified by 



0-CHUNK-O-RAW. 



191 



the Senate, the coming winter they will become possessed 
of lands (two hundred and forty sections) ample in extent 
for all the purposes of the tribe, abounding in wood and 
water, and for agricultural purposes equal to the best farm- 
ing lands in Nebraska." This contract was finally ratified 
by the United States government. 

Speaking generally of the Winnebagoes, the Indian super- 
intendent of the Northern department, in September, 1865, 
said : " I cannot too strongly recommend this unfortunate 
and much-abused tribe to the fostering care and protection 
of the department. Hurried from their comfortable homes 
in Minnesota, in 1863, and located at the Crow Creek 
agency, where it is impossible, one year in six, to raise a 
crop, either of corn, wheat or potatoes, they have suffered 
more than any other tribe in the country. They are now 
subsisted by government on the Omaha reservation, in 
Nebraska, whither they have all sought refuge to escape 
starvation ; and, under the most favorable auspices, they 
must continue a charge upon the government to a greater 
or less extent, for nearly two years to come." 

The superintendent, in his August, 1865, report, again 
speaking of the same tribe, remarked: "This tribe is 
characterized by frugality, thrift, and industry to an extent 
unequaled by any other tribe of Indians in the north-west. 
Loyal to the government and peaceful towards their neigh- 
bors, they are entitled to the fostering care of the general 
government." 

The removal and unsettled condition of the Winnebagoes 
broke up their schools and religious instruction, and in 
December, 1864, thirty-eight chiefs and head men, at their 
Omaha residence, petitioned then " Father," the President, 
among other things, as follows : " It is our sincere desire 
to have again established among us such schools as we see 
in operation among your Omaha children. Father, as soon 
as you find a permanent home for us, will you not do this 
for us? And, Father, as we would like our children taught 



192 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the Christian religion, as before, we would like our school 
placed under the care of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign 
Missions. And last, Father, to show you our sincerity, we 
desire to have set apart for its establishment, erection, and 
support, all of our school funds, and whatever more is 
necessary." 

The population of this tribe has been variously estimated 
at different periods. Thus we find in a French document, 
that they had two hundred and thirty warriors in IT 36; 
according to Sir William Johnson, in 1763 they had in- 
creased to 360; Captain Carver, in 1766, reduced the 
number to 200. By a census of the tribe in 1859, they 
were found to number 2,256 souls, of which 1,055 were 
males, and 1,201 females; but by the census of 1865, 
the whole number had diminished to 1,900. The latter 
census probably did not include the stragglers in Wisconsin, 
which were still there in 1866. They have been a vigorous, 
athletic race, and received from the Sioux a name, O-ton- 
kah, which is said to mean, when interpreted, " the large 
and strong people." 

In the spring of 1866, the Winnebagoes finally settled on 
their Omaha reservation, and commenced building houses, 
of which they had been destitute three years ; they also put 
on white men's clothing, and have cheerfully settled down, 
hoping to have a permanent home. 

The agent, in his report of August 20, 1866, said : " There 
has returned to the tribe, within the past few weeks, about 
100 soldiers, who have served with credit to themselves and 
to their tribe, in the defense of their country. I consider 
the Winnebagoes one of the best tribes of Indians in the 
country, and with proper treatment, they will soon become 
a self-sustaining, prosperous and happy people." 

By the treaty with the United States, ratified and pro- 
claimed March 28, 1866, the Winnebagoes released their 
Crow creek reservation, and accepted their Omaha reserva- 
tion, paid for by the United States. They also were to 



0-CHTTNK-O-RAW. 193 

receive 100 cows, 400 horses, 20 yoke of oxen, and wagons ; 
have a steam saw and grist mill, and necessary buildings 
for a complete agency erected, and are to be paid the 
expenses of removal and subsistence for one year. 
13 



CHAPTER X. 



THE WINNEBAGO CONFEDERACY CONCLUDED. 



MENOMINIES. 

This tribe early occupied the country between Green Bay 
and Lake Superior, and, anterior to the advent of the whites, 
were quite powerful ; but having become involved in a war 
with the Chippeways, the Rev. Father Allouez, who visited 
them May 6, 1670, said they were then " almost extermi- 
nated." The date of this war is not given, but it probably 
occurred after the Algonquin nations and Hurons had been 
driven west by the Iroquois; that is, after about 1652 or 
1653. Nicolet spoke of the Noquet, who inhabited the south 
shore of Lake Superior in 1639, but were at the Great and 
Little Bay De Noquet in 1659. This tribe might have been 
only a band of the Menominies, and were probably involved 
in the same war with that tribe, against the Chippeways. 
What became of the Noquets is not known, but they disap- 
peared from history early in the eighteenth century, and 
probably were merged in the Menominies, who subsequently 
occupied their territory at Bay De Noquet. Their name, 
Menominie, or " the Wild Rice People," was of the Algon- 
quin language, but by the French they were called, Folles 
Avoines, or the Wild Oats People. 

The first treaty between this tribe and the United States, 
effecting a cession of territory to the latter, was that of 
August 11, 1827, by which it was provided as follows : 

"Article 3. It being important to the settlement of 



MENOMINIES. 195 

Green Bay that definite boundaries should be established 
between the tract claimed by the former French and British 
governments, and the lands of the Indians, as well to avoid 
future disputes as to settle the question of jurisdiction, it is 
therefore agreed between the Menominie tribe and the 
United States, that the boundaries of the said tracts, the 
jurisdiction and title of which are hereby acknowledged to 
be in the United States, shall be as follows : namely, begin- 
ning on the shore of Green Bay, six miles due north from 
the parallel of the mouth of Fox river, and running thence 
in a straight line, but with the general course of the said 
river, and six miles therefrom to the intersection of the 
continuation of the westerly boundary of the tract of the 
Grand Kaukaulin, claimed by Augustin Grignon ; thence on 
a line with the said boundary to the same ; thence with the 
same to Fox river ; thence on the same course, six miles ; 
thence in a direct line to the south-west boundary of the 
tract, marked on the plan of the claims at Green Bay, as 
the settlement at the bottom of the Bay ; thence with the 
southerly boundary of the said tract to the south-easterly 
corner thereof; and thence with the easterly boundary of 
the said tract to Green Bay." 

" In consideration of the liberal establishment of the 
boundaries, as herein provided for," the United States shall 
pay in goods, $15,682 ; $1,000 annually for three years, and 
$500 annually, " as long as Congress shall think proper, for 
the education of the children of the tribes, parties hereto, 
and of the New York Indians." This latter approjn-iation 
included the Winnebagoes and Chippeways, and the New 
York Indians then settled near Green Bay. 

By another treaty, February 8, 1831, the Menominies 
ceded to the United States their territory south-east of Fox 
river and Green Bay, and east of Lake Winnebago, extend- 
ing south to the "Milwauky, or Manawauky river," and 
extending east to Lake Michigan, estimated at 2,500,000 
acres, of which tract three townships of land on the east 



196 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

side of Lake Winnebago were assigned to the Stockbridge, 
Munsee, and Brothertown Indians. 

The Menominies also, for the location of "the Six 
Nations of the New York Indians, and St. Regis tribe," 
gave 500,000 acres north of the Fox river, for which 
cessions of territory the United States paid a fair consider- 
ation in money, goods, annuities, farm stock, and erection 
of houses, mills, etc. The original treaty was subsequently, 
on the 27th of October, 1832, by a new treaty, somewhat 
modified in the boundary for the Six Nations. By the treaty 
of September 3,. 1836, they also further ceded the southern 
portion of their territory, east from Wolf river to their 
eastern boundary line between the Little and Great Bay De 
Noquet, a strip of land three miles wide on each side of the 
Wisconsin river, from near the Portage north, forty-eight 
miles, containing eight townships, for which the tribe 
received a large increase of annuities, and the payment of 
goods and the Indians' debts to the traders. 

By the treaty of October 18, 1848, the Menominies ceded 
to the United States all the balance of their lands in Wis- 
consin, for which the United States gave them a reservation 
above the Crow Wing river, on the upper Mississippi, of 
600,000 acres, and $300,000, and the tribe engaged to 
remove accordingly. 

On the examination of this tract, the Indians being 
opposed to removing to it, the United States, May 12, 1854, 
accepted a recession of it, and gave the tribe a reservation 
on their old lands, of townships twenty-eight, twenty-nine, 
and thirty, north of ranges thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and 
sixteen east, containing 432 square miles. For the difference 
between the two reservations, the United States gave them 
$242,686, in fifteen annual installments, commencing in 1867. 

They moved on to their reservation and commenced 
improvements, and the following year the Indian agent 
reported that a majority of the Indians had adopted the 
American dress, and wore the coat and pantaloons. Osh- 



MENOMINIES. 197 

kosh, the head chief, who had resisted the civilization of the 
tribe, this year, seeing the advancement of the civilized over 
the uncivilized Indians, gave in his influence for civilization. 

The industrial school in 1855, under the care of Jane 
Dousman, manufactured one hundred and twenty-eight 
coats, two hundred and eighteen pants, one hundred and 
sixty-five shirts, one hundred and thirty-seven gowns, and 
forty-one pairs of socks and stockings. The school-houses 
being temporary shanties, the progress was slow in that 
department; but seventy-five male and fifty-two female 
children attended during the year. During the year, " five 
of the girls," said the teacher, " have left school, and have 
married, and are doing very well. I am happy to state 
they are good housekeepers, having been taught the more 
substantial branches of domestic work." 

In 1853 the whole tribe numbered 2,708, and had much 
diminished from 1825, when they were estimated by the 
Secretary of War at 4,170, of course an over-estimate. In 
1865, the whole tribe numbered 886 males and 993 females 
— total, 1,879 souls. They continued to reside on their 
reservation of 230,400 acres, but siuTered considerably by 
the small-pox, having lost seventy-nine by death. They 
raised 150 bushels of wheat, 1,600 of corn, 550 of rye, and 
3,975 of potatoes, and some other articles, and manufactured 
90,000 pounds of maple sugar. 

The* educational and religious interests of the tribe are 
under the direction of the Catholics, but, unfortunately, for 
the last two or three years, a collision has occurred between 
the teachers of the schools and their priests, which led to the 
dismissal of the old priest for licentiousness and drunken- 
ness. His successor gave offense by advising the Indians 
not to send their children to school, and was ordered off 
the reservation. A third, in 1865, took the dead bodies of 
those who died with small-pox into the church, and was 
run out of the county by the sheriff*. The teachers of the 
schools are Catholics, and have long been connected with 



198 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the educational and religious interests of the tribe. To 
their untiring zeal is attributed the partial civilization of the 
tribe ; nearly two-thirds being Catholics, and the balance 
pagans. 

The two schools have had about one hundred scholars 
annually for several years, and the pupils are represented as 
having made good progress in their studies. The sewing 
school, in 1865, notwithstanding the delays on account of 
the small-pox, manufactured twenty-six coats, seventy pants, 
forty-two shirts, thirty dresses, thirty-nine skirts, thirty-nine 
gowns, and socks and stockings one pair each. 

The tribe has put into the Union army during the war 
one hundred and twenty-five soldiers, one-third of whom 
were killed in battle or died in hospital. 

Intemperance has not been as prevalent as formerly, but 
still leads to difficulty, and some guilty whites have been 
indicted by the United States court. 

The principal drawback on the civilization of the tribe is 
the poor quality of the soil of the reservation ; much of it 
being sandy, black oak, barren ; but there are some rich 
timber lands, which the agent has urged the Indians to 
occupy for farms, and which will probably soon be occupied 
instead of the barrens. 

The United States owe the Menominies two annual appro- 
priations of $916.66, for smith's shop, etc. ; $3,000 balance 
to pay millers ; and $242,686, divided into fifteen equal 
installments, to commence in 1867. 

The report of agent Martin, in September, 1866, repre- 
sents the Menominies as " very kind and tractable in their 
dispositions, easily controlled, and many of their chiefs 
manifesting a strong desire to have their children in- 
structed ;" that their " schools could not, in my judgment, 
be improved ;" that their reservation was " perhaps the 
worst for farming purposes in this State ;" and that " it is 
but an act of justice to Father Cajetan, the Catholic mis- 
sionary resident at Kenosha, to mention his constant efforts, 



io was. 199 

during the time he has been in charge, to promote the 
temporal and spiritual interests of the Indians, and the 
success which has thus far attended them." 

IOWAS. 

Of the O-chunk-o-raw confederacy, the Iowas evidently 
occupied northern Iowa, from the upper Iowa to the lower 
Iowa river, along the Mississippi; but, on the advent of 
the fugitive Algonquins, were crowded further back, and 
Le Sueur found them, in 1700, occupying the territory from 
the south bend of the St. Peter's river, extending south 
towards the Missouri; probably along the Cedar, lower 
Iowa and Des Moines rivers. 

When the warlike Sacs and Foxes had conquered and 
driven south the northern bands of the Illinois, they extended 
their conquests into the present State of Iowa, and drove 
back the Iowas and other tribes of the Winnebago con- 
federacy, and took possession of all the eastern part of the 
beautiful State. In this war, which was after 1760, they 
were assisted by the Ottawas of Mackinaw, and many of 
the confederates were captured and became slaves. Mr. 
Grignon, in his " Recollections," says he knew personally 
fourteen of these slaves, and that three of them were Osages, 
two Missouris, and one Mandan, but that they were com- 
monly denominated Pawnees. 

The first treaty with the Iowas was simply a treaty of 
peace and for the delivery of prisoners, made September 
16th, 1815. By the treaty of August 19th, 1825, at Prairie 
Du Chien, the territory of the Iowas was not defined, but 
they were left jointly with the Sacs and Foxes, and some 
other tribes, in the possession of western Iowa. By the 
treaty of July 15th, 1830, the Iowas and other tribes cede 
to the United States, as a general reservation, for the loca- 
tion of Indian tribes, the country from the Big Sioux to the 
Missouri State line, and extending east from the Missouri 
and Big Sioux to the dividing waters between the Missouri 



200 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

and Des Moines, for which the United States paid the Iowas 
$2,500 annually for ten years, and gave them an assistant 
blacksmith, and six hundred dollars in agricultural imple- 
ments. 

In this treaty, the Iowas, Omahas, Ottoes, and Yankton 
and Santee bands of Sioux, set apart a tract for their half- 
breeds, " Beginning at the mouth of the Little Nemaha 
river, and running up the main channel of said river to a 
point which will be ten miles from its mouth, in a direct 
line; from thence, in a direct line, to strike the Grand 
Nemaha ten miles from above its mouth in a direct line (the 
distance between the two Nemahas being about twenty 
miles ;) thence down said river to its mouth ; thence up, 
and with the meanders of the Missouri river to the point of 
beginning." 

By the treaty of September 17th, 1836, the Iowas released 
their claim to the south part of said reservation, now incorpo- 
rated into the State of Missouri, and accepted a reservation 
on the west side of the Missouri river, of two hundred 
sections on the "Grand Nemaha river;" and by another 
treaty of the 23rd November, 1837, the Iowas relinquished 
all the balance of their claim to land on the east side of the 
Missouri, on said reservation, for the consideration of 
$2,500. 

The last treaty would seem to cover all their claims 
on the United States ; but by their own ingenuity, or 
more probably by that of their traders, diverse claims were 
made by the Iowas, under the treaty of 1824, 1825, 1830, 
and 1836, and to satisfy them, and assist in their civilization, 
the United States, by another treaty of the 19th of October, 
1838, gave the Iowas $157,500, to be invested in stocks 
paying at least five per cent., the interest of which should 
annually be paid to the tribe as long as it exists ; and also 
erect for them ten houses. These payments, however, 
included the annuities to be paid to the Indians by the trea- 
ties before mentioned. 



AKANSEA, OR QTTAPAWS. 201 

The Iowas, in 1865, had limited their reservation, by a 
late treaty, to twenty-five sections, which are well watered, 
have rich soil, and plenty of timber, and are situated along 
the south side of the Great Nemaha, extending west from 
the Missouri river. 

They had 289 acres under cultivation, and have 91 horses, 
71 head of cattle, 210 hogs, besides agricultural implements 
valued at $7,250. Total value, $16,750, besides crops raised. 
They had a good school, averaging about thirty-eight 
scholars ; but it does not receive its proper consideration 
from the Iowas. 

The tribe sent forty-three soldiers to the war, who per- 
formed faithful services in several battles and severe cam- 
paigns, principally in the thirteenth and fourteenth Kansas 
regiments. 

Their agent, September 1, 1865, remarked, in his report: 
" They may be seen daily, hauling their corn, vegetables, 
wood, etc., to market, and returning with flour, meat, coffee, 
sugar, etc., which they have received in exchange, or pur- 
chased with the proceeds of their loads." In 1866 they had 
a temperance organization, which made it a crime to get 
drunk or bring spirits on the reservation. 

In 1825 the Iowas were estimated by the Secretary of War 
at 1,100. In 1853 there were 437, and in 1865, 294 souls. 

They receive from the United States an annuity of $2,850 
per year. 

AKANSEA, OB, QTJAPAWS. 

This powerful tribe, according to Rev. Father Gravier, 
an old missionary to the Illinois previous to 1700, formerly 
inhabited the country bordering Ohio river, and the Illinois 
and Miamies called that river the " river of the Akansea." 
Previous to Marquette's visit to the Mississippi in 1673, the 
Arkansas Indians had been driven from the Ohio by the 
Iroquois, and had settled on the Arkansas river, where he 
found them. He says that "their language is extremely 
13* 



202 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

difficult, and with all my efforts, I could not succeed in pro- 
nouncing some words." This shows that their language, 
like the Winnebagoes, was deeply guttural. Marquette, how- 
ever, found among them one that could speak Illinois, who 
interpreted for him. The name Akansea was an Illinois 
word, for they called themselves O-qua-pas, or Qua-paw. 
La Salle found three villages of them along the Mississippi, 
near the Arkansas river, in 1681. De Tonty soon after 
names the " Kappas " on the Mississippi, and, inland, the 
Toyengan, or Tongenga, the Toriman, and the Osotonoy, 
or Assotone. He commenced a settlement among them. 
Charlevoix, in 1721, makes four villages; and their mis- 
sionary, Father Poisson, in 1727, places them all on the 
Arkansas river : " The Tourimans and Tongingas, nine 
leagues from the mouth by the lower branch ; the Sauthouis, 
three leagues farther ; and the Kappas still higher up." The 
Rev. Father Pouay, however, returning from La Salle's 
expedition in 1687, said that the "Arkansas were formerly 
stationed on the upper part of one " of the branches of the 
Missouri, " but the Iroquois drove them out by cruel wars 
some years ago," and they settled " on the river which now 
bears their name." He was evidently ignorant of the fact 
that they were driven from the Ohio. 

The Rev. Father St. Cosme, descending the Mississippi 
in 1699, to become their missionary, said: "We were 
much consoled to see ourselves in the places of our mission, 
but were "sensibly afflicted to see this Acansea nation, once 
so numerous, almost entirely destroyed by war and sickness. 
It is not a month since they got over the small-pox, which 
carried off the greater part of them." 

Father Gravier visited the Akansea in 1701, and found 
the Kappa and Tourima bands in a village of forty cabins, 
and the Sitteoiii five leagues up the river Arkansas " much 
more numerous than " the other two. 

The Akansea became allies of the French, and in 1727 
and 1728, assisted them in nearly exterminating the Natchez, 



OSAGES, OR WA-SAW-SEE. 203 

for their massacre of a small French establishment amongst 
them, including Father Poisson, who was temporarily at 
Natchez. 

The Arkansas bands continued to occupy their country 
until 1818, when the United States treated with them as the 
Quapaw nation, and purchased all their country between 
the Arkansas and Red rivers, and north of the Arkansas and 
east of the Mississippi, and allowed them a reservation. In 
1824, the United States bought their reservation, and the 
tribe engaged to be " confined to the district of country 
inhabited by the Caddo Indians, and form a part of that 
tribe." The Caddos were probably a kindred tribe, and if 
so, the O-chunk-o-raw confederacy must have extended far 
into Texas. The Quapaws, agreeable to their treaty, set- 
tled on the south side of Red river, at Bayou Treache, on 
a tract given them by the Caddoes ; but the latter tribe 
refused to incorporate them, and as the Raft on Red river 
so often flooded their land, they were finally obliged to 
abandon it, and in 1833 they made another treaty with the 
United States, by which they received one hundred and fifty 
sections of land west of the State line of Missouri, near the 
O sages, where they soon after settled on the Neosho river. 
They enjoyed the benefits of the Catholic manual labor and 
girls' schools with the Osages, and had become considerably 
advanced in civilization ; but the war of the rebellion deso- 
lated their country with fire, and the Quapaws were driven 
from then- country to the interior of Kansas, and their 
houses were plundered. They furnished in 1862, eighty 
Union soldiers. The Quapaws were estimated, in 1825, at 
700; and in 1853 they numbered 314 on their reservation. 

They receive from government $1,000 per year for educa- 
tional purposes, and $1,660 for smiths, farmers, etc. 

OSAGES, OR WA-SAW-SEE. 

This band was first mentioned by Marquette, in 1673, as 
occupying the lower Missouri river, from which that river 



204 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

was generally called by the Recollect missionaries " the 
great river of the Osages." St. Cosme, in his voyage down 
the Mississippi in 1699, called the river " the great river of 
the Missourias," from which it obtained the name of Missouri 
river. They call themselves the Wa-saw-see. In 1687, 
Rev. Father Douay, who was with La Salle when he was 
killed, remarking of the Indians on the " famous river of the 
Missourias or Osages," locates the Osages with " seven- 
teen villages " on a " river of their name, which empties 
into that of the Missourites." The Illinois were their com- 
mon enemies previous as well as subsequent to the voyage 
of Marquette ; but when the Illinois were driven west of the 
Mississippi in 1680, by the Iroquois, they fled to the Osages 
for protection, and were followed to Osage territory. The 
Osages were not well known until modern times, although 
they are mentioned from time to time by the French, and 
particularly in 1712, as assisting the French at Detroit to 
massacre the Foxes. They were a brave people, and never 
failed to hold their territory against all enemies, even to the 
present day. Mr. Catlin, who visited them in about 1835, 
pronounced them the tallest race of men in North America, 
either red or white. He found very few less than six feet 
high, and many six and a half and seven feet. They evi- 
dently have not degenerated from their Winnebago progen- 
itors ; and it goes to substantiate the probability that this 
was the confederacy referred to as the "Allegewi," in the 
traditions of the Delawares ; and that the Delawares were 
allies of the Iroquois in the war against this people in 1660. 
The iirst treaty made by the United States with the 
Osages was " concluded at Fort Clark, on the right bank 
of the Missouri, about five miles above the Fire Prairie, in 
the territory of Louisiana, the 10th day of November, 1808." 
By this treaty the Osages ceded to the United States all 
their territory east of a line running due south from Fort 
Clark to the Arkansas river, and down the Arkansas to the 
Mississippi, and all their territory north of the Missouri 



OSAGES, OR WA-SAW-SEE. 



205 



river ; for which the United States furnished them a black- 
smith, a store of goods " to barter with them on moderate 
terms for their peltries and furs," a sum not exceeding 
$5,000, to citizens, for the " lawless depredations" of the 
Osages, $1,500 in merchandise, and $1,200 in money. 
They also concluded the usual treaty, September 12th, 1815, 
of "peace and friendship," and that all previous hostile acts 
should " be mutually forgiven and forgot." 

The next treaty, September 25th, 1818, ceded to the 
United States the following : " Beginning at the Arkansaw 
river, at where the present Osage boundary line strikes the 
river at Frog Bayou ; then up the Arkansaw and Verdigris 
to the falls of Verdigris river ; thence, easterly, to the Osage 
boundary line, at a point twenty leagues north of the 
Arkansaw river, and with that line to the place of begin- 
ning." In consideration, the United States pay not exceed- 
ing $4,000, for Indian depredations since 1814. 

By a treaty of the 31st August, 1822, the United States 
paid the Osages $2,329.40, to be absolved from their con- 
tract to furnish a factory or store of goods, under the treaty 
of 1808. 

By the treaty of June W, 1825, the Osages ceded to the 
United States their " lands lying in the State of Missouri 
and territory of Arkansas, and all lands lying west of the 
State of Missouri and territory of Arkansas, north and west 
of the Red river, south of the Kansas river, and east of a 
line to be drawn from the head sources of the Kansas, 
southwardly through the Hock Saline," with the reservations 
as follows : " Beginning at a point due east of White Hairs 
village, and twenty-five miles west of the western boundary 
line of the State of Missouri, fronting on a north and south 
line, so as to leave ten miles north and forty miles south of 
the point of said beginning, and extending west, with the 
width of fifty miles, to the western boundary of the lands 
hereby ceded and relinquished by said tribes or nations ;" 
also, some forty-five sections, for a long list of half-breeds ; 



206 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

also, fifty-four sections, to be laid off by the President and 
sold to raise funds for the support of Indian schools. The 
United States, in said treaty, release $4,105.80, due them 
from the O sages for goods furnished ; and the Indians, in 
consideration thereof, " release their claim on the United 
States for regular troops to be stationed at Fort Clark, and 
also the furnishing of a blacksmith at that place, and the 
delivery of merchandise at Fire Prairie," under the treaty 
of 1808. 

The United States agree to pay the Delawares $1,000; 
their own citizens not exceeding $5,000, for Osage "lawless 
depredations ;" $6,000 in merchandise ; $2,600 in " horses 
and equipage;" $100 to Paul Lois, and the same to Baptiste 
Mongrain, and $1,500 to three Indian traders, for debts. 

By the treaty of January 11th, 1839, the Osages release 
all claim to any of their reservations " within the limits of 
any other tribe," and also " all claims or interests under the 
treaties of November 10th, 1808, and June 2nd, 1825, 
except so much of the latter as is contained in the 6th article 
thereof; and the said Indians bind themselves to remove 
from the lands of other tribes, and to remain within their 
own boundaries." 

For the consideration of the above, the United States 
agreed : 

1st. To pay to the Osages $20,000 annually for twenty 
years. 

2nd. To furnish the Osages, for twenty years, two black- 
smiths and two assistants, each to receive two hundred and 
twenty-five dollars per year ; also, " each smith to be fur- 
nished a dwelling-house, shop and tools, and five hundred 
pounds of iron, and sixty pounds of steel, annually." 

3rd. To furnish the Osage nation with a grist and saw 
mill, a miller to each for fifteen years, and an assistant to 
each for eleven years," etc. 

4th. To supply them 1,000 cows and calves, 2,000 breed- 
ing hogs, 1,000 plows, 1,000 sets of horse gear, 1,000 axes, 



OSAGES, OR WA-SAW-SEE. 207 

and 1,000 hoes ; to be distributed to those which shall form 
an agricultural settlement. 

5th. To furnish ten chiefs with a house worth two hundred 
dollars each, and eleven with a house worth one hundred 
dollars each; and also to furnish the chiefs six wagons, 
sixteen carts, and twenty-eight yoke of oxen, and yoke and 
log chains to each yoke. 

6th. To pay all claims for Osage depredations not exceed- 
ing $30,000. 

7th. To purchase the reservations to individuals at not 
exceeding two dollars per acre, made in the treaty of June 
2nd, 1825, to be paid to the reservees. 

8th. To reimburse $3,000 deducted from their annuity in 
1825 to pay for property which has since been returned. 

9th. To pay to Clermont's band their proportion of the 
annuity of 1829, which was wrongfully withheld from them, 
amounting to $3,000. 

In 1862 the United States made a treaty purchasing the 
Osage reservation, but it had not in 1865 been ratified by 
the Senate. The Indians, however, had left their reserva- 
tion, and retired some eighty miles to the south-west, under 
a state of dissatisfaction, complaining of the non-ratification 
of the treaty, and that the United States had not performed 
all their agreements in the treaty of 1839. 

In September, 1865, a new treaty was made, which was 
ratified by the United States, September 21st, 1866. By 
this treaty the O sages ceded a large portion of their entire 
reservation, which is to be sold, and the fimds invested for 
the benefit of the tribe; $80,000 of which are set apart as a 
school fund, and a provision was made for their mission 
school. 

According to Charlevoix, the Catholics early sent mis- 
sionaries to the Osages and Missourias ; but one of them lost 
his life, and another was long held as prisoner. 

In 1820 an effort was made by the Presbyterians to 
establish a mission among them, but was subsequently 



208 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

abandoned. The Catholics again renewed their efforts in 
1846 for their conversion, under Fathers John Shoenmaker 
and John Bax, and the Sisters of Loretto opened a school 
for girls. Father S., in 1855, reports to the Indian agent 
that the " Osages advance but very little towards civiliza- 
tion," but he is willing " to bear them testimony that they 
are a nation of superior natural talents." He further said : 
" At our arrival in this nation we counted five farms ; there 
are now twenty-five." 

In 1860, Father Shoenmaker' s manual labor school 
employed four male teachers, and had 125 pupils, and the 
Sisters of Loretto had fourteen engaged in teaching the 
girls' department, which numbered nearly as many as the 
boys; some of these pupils in both departments were 
Quapaws. The Indian agent of that year said the school 
was " prosperous beyond the most sanguine expectations of 
its founders." 

The breaking out of the rebellion was disastrous to this 
tribe, as they were on the border. About 1,000 of them 
went south in 1861, but probably did not take up arms 
against the United States, and most of them had returned 
in 1865. The balance, about 2,500, remained loyal to the 
United States; and as early as 1862 two hundred and forty 
warriors enlisted in the Union army. The whole tribe were 
faithful guards to the frontier against guerrillas, and in June, 
1863, captured and killed at one time twenty rebel officers 
and soldiers, who had come into their country for plunder. 
In 1864, the rebels burned all their houses and plundered 
their country. 

The schools continued to diminish from year to year, 
and in 1865, the agency buildings were burned about the 
10th of May, probably by guerrillas, and Father Shoen- 
maker's report is missing from the report of the Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs. They receive an annuity of $3,456 
per year for educational purposes. 



MISSOTTKIAS AND OTTOES. 209 



MISSOURIAS AND OTTOES. 



The first knowledge we have of the Missourias is derived 
from Marquette, who marked them on his map as Ouemes- 
sourit, and located them on the Missouri river, next above 
the Osages. The word is evidently Algonquin, of the 
Illinois dialect, but the writer has never found it translated 
into English or French. Father Douay is believed by the 
writer to have been the first one to give their name to the 
great western branch of the Mississippi, in 1687, as the 
" river of the Massourites." During the next century we 
occasionally find their names mentioned, but nothing defi- 
nite in regard to them. 

The United States found them on the north side of the 
Missouri river, with the Ottoes, and made the usual treaty 
of peace with the two tribes, June 24th, 1817. 

In the treaty of July 15th, 1830, the Missourias and Ottoes 
joined the Iowas, Sacs, and Foxes, and several other tribes, 
in ceding to the United States their territory on the east side 
of the Missouri river, from the Missouri State line extending 
up the river to the Big Sioux river, which territory so ceded 
was to be " assigned and allotted, under the direction of the 
President of the United States, to the tribes now living 
thereon, or to such other tribes as the President may locate 
thereon, for hunting and other purposes." For this cession 
the Missourias and Ottoes received $2,500, and one black- 
smith, at the expense of the United States, and the necessary 
tools ; also, instruments for agricultural purposes to the 
amount of five hundred dollars. In the same treaty, part 
of the territory of the Ottoes, on the west side of the Mis- 
souri, was set off for a half-breed tract, and it was stipulated 
that the Omahas, Iowas, and Yanckton and Santee bands of 
Sioux, should pay the Ottoes therefor $3,000. 

By the treaty of the 21st of September, 1833, the Ottoes 
and Missourias ceded the following territory to the United 
14 



210 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

States : " Beginning on the Little Nemaha, at the north- 
west corner of the land reserved by treaty at Prairie Du 
Chien, on the 15th of July, 1830 (see Iowas, page 199), in favor 
of certain half-breeds, of the Ornahas, Iowas, Ottoes, and 
Yanckton and Santee's band of Sioux, and running west- 
erly with said Little Nemaha, to the head branches of the 
same ; and thence running in a due west line as far west as 
said Ottoes and Missourias have, or pretend to have, any 
claim." By this treaty the two tribes agreed to locate 
themselves in such convenient agricultural districts as the 
President may think proper ;" and also expressed " their 
entire willingness to abandon the chase for an agricultural 
life." The United States agreed, when they are settled by 
the President on their new reservation, to continue their 
annuity for ten years from 1840, for $500 ; also, $500 annu- 
ally for five years for schools ; also erect a horse-mill for 
grinding corn, and provide two farmers to reside in the 
nation to instruct and assist said tribe for the term of five 
years; also deliver them $1,000 value in stock, to be placed 
in care of their agent. In addition to this, the United 
States extended their annuity by treaty of 1830, $2,500, ten 
years from 1840; and also paid them, at the time of the 
treaty, $400 worth of goods. 

By the treaty of October 15th, 1836, they relinquished 
their claim to the piece of land between the State of Mis- 
souri and the river, afterwards added to Missouri, for which 
the Ottoes received $1,250, and the Missourias $1,000. The 
Ottoes and Missourias also received 500 bushels of corn, 
having failed to raise a crop that season, on account of 
having removed that spring on to the tract which had been 
selected for them by the President. 

By the treaty of 1854, amended and ratified April 10th, 
1855, the Missourias and Ottoes ceded to the United States 
all their land west of the Missouri except their reservation 
on Big Blue river, defined as follows: Commencing 
five miles due east of a point in the middle of the main 



MISSOURIAS AND OTTOES. 211 

branch of the Big Blue river, at a place called by the Indians 
the Islands, south-west of Fort Kearney; "thence west 
twenty-five miles ; thence north ten miles ; thence east to a 
point due north of the starting-point, and ten miles there- 
from; thence to the place of beginning." By this treaty 
they consented to a survey and allotment in severalty of 
their reservation. Upon this reservation these tribes re- 
moved in July, 1855, and the first of November of that 
year government had broke for them 100 acres of prairie, 
built one house and one smith-shop, and put up 100 tons of 
hay. In 1858 government put them up a steam saw and 
grist-mill. In 1860 their crops of 250 acres were an entire 
failure by drouth. In 1865 the farmer reported that the 
Indians had " manifested a much greater interest in agri- 
culture than the year previous, and that their crops were 
good. The mills were doing well, and grinding for both 
whites and Indians. 

In November, 1854, government arranged with the Pres- 
byterian Board of Missions to open and conduct a mission 
school for five years, and paid them the $500 per year 
agreed to in the treaty of 1833, which expired in June, 1860, 
since which time no school has been open. This school was 
under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Guthrie, and proved a 
complete failure, he having failed to interest the Indians to 
send to the school. The agent, in 1858, said the Indians 
" never will, unless compelled to, send their children to this 
school," and the agent recommends that the school be dis- 
continued. 

In 1853, the two tribes were reported at 1,000 souls, but 
in 1855 the agent estimated them at only 600. By the cen- 
sus of 1865, they then numbered 508. They furnished only 
four soldiers for the Union army, but were involved in war 
with the south-western Indians, and were loyal to our gov- 
ernment. They, however, enrolled fifty young men for 
General Lane's " Indian regiment," which, however, were 
not called for. 



212 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

The total annuity now clue the Indians, under the treaty 
of 1854, amounts to $221,000, which is divided into some 
thirty annual installments. 

The report of 1866 urges the establishment of a school, 
which was earnestly requested by the tribes; alleges con- 
stant trespasses on their timber lands by the whites, and 
represents some progress in agriculture. 

KANSAS, OR KAWS. 

This tribe was located, by Marquette, west of the Osages, 
and next to the Pancassa or Pawnees, which seems to have 
continued as their locality to the present day. We know 
comparatively nothing of their wars, except that the whole 
O-chunk-o-raw confederacy were more or less at war with 
the Illinois in early times, the Sacs and Foxes at a later day, 
and almost continually with the Pawnees. Even the Win- 
nebagoes, at Green Bay, have often sent war parties against 
the Pawnees within the memory of the old French. 

The United States made their usual treaty of peace with 
the Kansas, October 28, 1815 ; and June 3, 1825, they made 
another treaty, the first article of which was as follows : 

" The Kansas do hereby cede to the United States all the 
lands lying within the State of Missouri, to which the said 
nation have title or claim ; and do further cede and relin- 
quish to the said United States, all other lands which they 
now occupy, or to which they have title or claim, lying west 
of the said State of Missouri, and within the following boun- 
daries : Beginning at the entrance of the Kansas river into 
the Missouri river; from thence north to the north-west 
corner of the State of Missouri ; from thence westwardly to 
the Nodewa river, thirty miles from its entrance into the 
Missouri ; from thence to the entrance of the Big Nemaha 
river into the Missouri, and with that river to its source ; 
from thence to the sources of the Kansas river, leaving the 
old village of the Pania Republic to the west; from thence, 
on the ridge dividing the waters of the Kansas river from 



KANSAS, OR KAWS. 213 

those of the Arkansas, to the western boundary of the State 
line of Missouri, and with that line, thirty miles, to the place 
of beginning." 

The second article of said treaty provided for a reserva- 
tion as follows : 

" From the cession aforesaid, the following reservation 
for the use of the Kansas nation of Indians shall be made, 
of a tract of land, to begin twenty leagues up the Kansas 
river, and to include their village on that river, extending 
west thirty miles in width, through the lands ceded in the 
first article, to be surveyed and marked under the direction 
of the President," etc. 

The consideration of this purchase was "$3,500 per 
annum for twenty successive years." 

The United States also furnished the Kansas 300 head of 
cattle, 300 hogs, 500 domestic fowls, three yoke of oxen, 
and two carts, " with such implements of agriculture as the 
superintendent of Indian affairs may think necessary ; and 
shall employ such persons to aid and instruct them in their 
agriculture, as the President of the United States may deem 
expedient ; and shall provide and support a blacksmith for 
them." 

Article fifth provides : " Out of the lands herein ceded 
by the Kansas nation to the United States, the commis- 
sioner aforesaid, in behalf of the said United States, doth 
further covenant and agree, that thirty-six sections of 
good lands on the Big Blue river, shall be laid out under 
the direction of the President of the United States, and sold 
for the purpose of raising a fund, to be applied under the 
direction of the President to the support of schools for the 
education of the Kansas children within their nation." 

The United States also stipulated to give twenty-three 
half-breeds of the Kansas a section of land each of one mile 
square, commencing at the reservation on the north side of 
the Kansas river, and extending down the river. They also 
agree to pay, not exceeding $3,000, for Indian depredations 



214 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

since 1815 ; also pay Francois G. Choteau $500, towards 
the liquidation of Indian debts to him ; also pay $4,000, 
" which, together with the amount agreed on in the third 
and fourth articles, and the provisions made in the other 
articles of this treaty, shall be considered as a full compen- 
sation for the cession herein made." 

There were provisions for the delivery of stolen property 
and the punishment of offenders. 

By another treaty of the 16th of August, 1825, the Kansas 
tribe cede the privilege of a highway through their land, 
for which they received eight hundred dollars. 

Article I. of the treaty of 1859, proclaimed by the Presi- 
dent November 17th, 1860, provides: 

" The Kansas Indians having now more lands than are 
necessary for their use, and being desirous of promoting 
settled habits of industry amongst themselves, by abolishing 
the tenure in common by which they now hold their lands, 
and by assigning limited quantities thereof in severalty to 
the members of their tribe owning an interest in their 
present reservation, to be cultivated and improved for their 
individual use and benefit, it is agreed and stipulated that 
that portion of their reservation commencing at the south- 
west corner of said reservation, thence north with the west 
boundary nine miles ; thence east fourteen miles ; thence 
south nine miles; thence west with the south boundary 
fourteen miles, to the place of beginning, shall be set apart 
and retained by them for said purposes ; and that out of the 
same there shall be assigned to each head of a family not 
exceeding forty acres, and to each member thereof not 
exceeding forty acres ; and to each single male person of the 
age of twenty-one years and upwards not exceeding forty 
acres of land, to include in every case, as far as practicable, 
a reasonable proportion of timber. One hundred and sixty 
acres of said retained lands, in a suitable locality, shall also 
be set apart and appropriated to the occupancy and use of 
the agency of said Indians, and one hundred and sixty 



KANSAS, OR KAWS. 215 

acres of said lands shall also be reserved for the establish- 
ment of a school for the education of the youth of the tribe." 
By article 4th of the same treaty, it is provided that the 
surplus, after locating all the said Indians as aforesaid, 
might be sold for the benefit of the said tribe, and for assist- 
ing in making agricultural improvements, and for the pay- 
ment of Indian debts. The tribe also make further provisions 
for more half-breeds. 

This tribe has not particularly attracted attention until 
lately; and in 1855, agent Montgomery wrote of them in 
his report, that their annuity " is mostly laid out for pro- 
visions and whisky ;" that about the middle of June of that 
year " the small-pox broke out amongst them, and has con- 
tinued to prove fatal with the greater number of them, it 
seems, to the great satisfaction and admiration of all those 
who have any acquaintance with the Kaws." ..." They 
have no school, and it appears that what they have had has 
been only a dead expense to the government." . . . 
" The Kansas are a poor, degraded, superstitious, thievish, 
indigent tribe of Indians ; their tendency is downward, and, 
in my opinion, they must soon become extinct; and the 
sooner they arrive at this period, the better it will be for 
the rest of mankind." 

To this report Mr. Manypenny, the Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs, replied that the agent spoke " in very 
improper terms" of " those untutored wards of the govern- 
ment ;" and " that instead of designing their extermination, 
he should employ the best means within his reach calculated 
to promote their welfare and improvement," etc. 

In March, 1862, their lands having been surveyed, were 
allotted to them in severalty, and that year they commenced 
civilization in earnest. The agent said of them that " they 
have been provided with comfortable and substantial stone 
houses, which they now occupy." ..." They have 
cultivated, for the first time in many years, considerable 
fields of corn, potatoes and other vegetables. The new 



216 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

fields were broken too late for use." He also said that their 
new school buildings were ready for teachers; but they 
need a blacksmith, mill, etc. v 

In May, 1863, their mission school went into operation, 
under the charge of the Society of Friends, with thirty-five 
scholars, and was quite successful. Mr. Hauffaker their 
farmer, reported that they "were cultivating over three 
hundred acres, and are well pleased with their new mode of 
life ;" but labored under the difficulty of having an " insuffi- 
cient number of oxen, ploughs and other agricultural imple- 
ments ;" and that more than eighty of the Indians had 
" enlisted in the United States service during the past 
year." 

In 1865 they cultivated four hundred acres, and raised 
350 bushels of wheat, 9,000 bushels of corn, 500 bushels of 
oats, and 750 bushels of potatoes. Their annuities were 
$10,000 annually. 

In 1853 the Kansas numbered 1,375 ; in 1860, 803; in 
1862, 775; in 1864, 701; and in 1865, 631. This shows a 
large decrease annually, which is in part explained by the 
fact that they still continue their buffalo hunts in the summer 
to the west, and their probable losses in the late war of the 
rebellion. However, at that rate, the " wards of govern- 
ment" will soon disappear like the " children of the woods." 

By the report of the agent in September, 1866, it appears 
that the most of this tribe spent the previous winter in the 
buffalo country, and killed 3,000 buffalo; that the Santa Fe 
traders constantly sold them whisky ; that thirty of their 
children attended the mission school, and made some pro- 
gress during the winter, twelve learning to read, but most 
of them returned home in the spring, when their parents 
returned from the hunt ; that many of their horses had been 
stolen by white men ; and that the children at school, 
" when treated kindly, seem to be of an affectionate disposi- 
tion." The mission school is in charge of the " Friends," 
who are under contract to the government " to receive the 



OMAHAS. 217 

Indian children to the buildings and farm, and give them 
a good English education to the extent of their capacity ; 
and, in addition, to teach the boys farming, and the use of 
tools and agricultural implements, and the girls the various 
branches of housewifery, including sewing and knitting, and 
dairy operations, and whatever may tend to their civiliza- 
tion. 

The treaty of 1864, providing for the sale of their lands to 
the United States, and their removal to the Indian territory, 
had not been ratified by the Senate in November, 1866. 

OMAHAS. 

This tribe was also located by Marquette on the Missouri, 
north-west of the Missourias, under the name of Mama. 
They joined with the Missourias and several other tribes, in 
the treaty of July 15th, 1830, and in that of October 15th, 
1836. 

By the treaty of 1854 the Omahas ceded all their lands 
west of the Missouri, " and south of a line drawn due west 
from a point in the centre of the main channel of said 
Missouri river, due east of where the Ayoway river disem- 
bogues out of the bluffs, to the western boundary of the 
Omaha country, and forever relinquish all right and title to 
the country south of said line," reserving the country north 
of said line for their home. 

The sixth article provided for a' survey, and allotment in 
severalty of the reservation. 

The United States also agree to protect them on their 
reservation from the Sioux and other hostile tribes ; also 
" erect for the Omahas, at their new home, a grist and saw- 
mill, and keep the same in repair, and provide a miller for 
ten years ; also to erect a good blacksmith shop, supply the 
same with tools, and keep it in repair for ten years, and 
provide a good blacksmith for a like period ; and to employ 
an experienced farmer for the term of ten years, to instruct 
the Indians in agriculture." They gave the Presbyterian 
14* 



218 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Board a section of land to include the then buildings, and 
gave a right of way for roads and railroads through their 
reservation. 

The United States agreed to pay them $40,000 per annum 
for three years, $30,000 per annum for ten years, $20,000 
per annum for fifteen years, and $10,000 per annum for 
twelve years ; each annuity to commence when the other 
was paid in the aforesaid order ; also the further sum of 
$41,000, to be expended by the President in establishing 
and maintaining them on the reservation. 

The tribe went on their reservation and progressed 
finely, and in 1865 had 945 acres under a good state of 
cultivation. Their mission school was under the supervision 
of Rev. R. J. Burtt, with four assistant teachers, and had 
forty-five scholars. The school received $4,476.23 from the 
Presbyterian Mission Board, and $3,750 from the tribe, 
annually. The census of 1865 was 1,002, showing an 
increase of thirty-one over the previous year. Indeed, the 
tribe has increased a small per cent, for several years. They 
have banished whisky from the reservation. The tribe has 
been loyal, and have put 260 soldiers into the Union army. 
Of their annuities, $480,000 are yet to be paid. 

This tribe invited the Winnebagoes, their " elder bro- 
thers," to settle with Fhem, and sold them, through the 
United States, a part of their reservation. 

The treaty, selling a part of their reservation to the 
United States for the benefit of the Winnebagoes, was 
ratified February 15, 1866, by the President, by which they 
get $50,000, besides the extension of the provisions of the 
eighth article of a former treaty for ten years, and $7,000 
damages from the Winnebagoes. 

By the agent's report of August 1, 1866, the tribe was in 
a prosperous condition, the most of the people had put on 
the white man's clothing, and lived in comfortable houses ; 
and their mission school, then under the superintendence of 
Old School Presbyterians, had sixty-one scholars, of which 



PONCAS. 219 

nineteen were girls, and forty-two boys — all making good 
progress. They had been blessed with a revival of religion. 
The tribe, during the summer of 1866, cultivated 1,830 
acres — 485 more than the previous year — and raised 
73,630 bushels of grain, besides potatoes, beets, carrots, and 
turnips. The chiefs and head men of the tribe have peti- 
tioned for a survey and allotment in severalty of their 
reservation. 

PONCAS. 

Marquette mentions a tribe near the Maha, by the name 
of Pana, which is probably the same as the Pouca of the 
present day. The United States made their usual treaty of 
peace with this tribe in 1817, and another for trade in 1825. 

By that of May 12, 1858, they ceded to the United States 
all their lands, except the following reservation for their 
future homes : " Beginning at a point on the Neobrara 
river, and running due north so as to intersect the Pone a 
river twenty-five miles from its mouth ; thence from said 
point of intersection, up and along the Ponca river twenty 
miles ; thence due south to the Neobrara river ; and thence 
down and along said river to the place of beginning." 

For this cession the United States agreed to protect the 
Poncas on their reservation, pay them $12,000 per annum 
for five years, $10,000 per annum for ten years, $8,000 per 
annum for fifteen years ; and expend $20,000 " in maintain- 
ing and subsisting the Poncas during the first year after 
their removal to their new homes, purchasing stock and 
agricultural implements, breaking up and fencing land, 
building houses, and in making such other improvements as 
may be necessary for their comfort and welfare." 

" To establish, and to maintain for ten years, at an annual 
expense not to exceed $5,000, one or more manual labor 
schools, for the education and training of the Ponca youth 
in letters, agriculture, the mechanic arts, and housewifery ; 
which school or schools shall be managed and conducted in 



220 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

such manner as the President of the United States shall 
direct ; the Poncas hereby stipulating to constantly keep 
thereat, during at least nire months in every year, all their 
children between the ages of seven and eighteen years. 

" The United States also pay not exceeding $10,500, to 
be expended in the erection of mills, dwelling-houses, shops, 
etc., for the benefit of the Poncas ; and also to expend 
annually, for ten years, or during the pleasure of the Presi- 
dent, an amount not exceeding $7,500, for the purpose of 
furnishing said Indians with such aid and assistance in agri- 
cultural and mechanical pursuits, including the working of 
said mill, as the Secretary of the Interior may consider 
advantageous and necessary for them ; the Poncas hereby 
stipulating to furnish from their tribe the number of young 
men that may be required as apprentices and assistants in 
the mills and mechanics' shops, and at least three persons to 
work constantly with each laborer employed for them in 
agricultural pursuits." 

The United States also set aside $20,000 for the payment 
of Ponca debts; also the United States gave scrip for 160 
acres of land each, to eight half-breeds, and Francis Roy, 
their interpreter. 

The Poncas agree that if any of them " shall drink, or 
procure for others intoxicating liquor, their proportion of 
the tribal annuities shall be withheld for at least one year." 

The Poncas also reserve the right to allot in severalty, 
their reservation " among themselves, giving to each head 
of family or single person a farm, with such rights of pos- 
session or transfer to any other member of the tribe, or of 
descent to their heirs and representatives, as may be in 
accordance with the laws, customs, and regulations of the 
tribe." 

The Ponca reservation proving a " barren waste, destitute 
of wood for lumber and for fuel, and of grass for hay," a 
new treaty was made with them in March, 1865, giving 
them a new reservation in the valley of the Missouri river, 



MANDANS. 221 

about twelve miles long, and from one to two miles wide, 
and containing an abundance of timber, grass, and water. 
That treaty had not been confirmed by the Senate in the fall 
of 1860. 

The manual labor school provided for in the treaty of 
1858, had not been opened as late as September 30, 1865, 
but the Pone as were still urging its establishment. 

The population of the Poncas amounted, in 1865, to 1,100, 
according to government documents. 

By the agent's report of September 10, 1866, it appears 
that this tribe were making some progress in farming, hav- 
ing five hundred acres under cultivation ; but were in an 
unsettled condition on account of the non-ratification of the 
treaty of 1865. They have no school or mission. 

MANDANS. 

This tribe was not named in the list of Missouri river 
Indians by Marquette, but the Sacs and Foxes included 
them in their raids west of the Mississippi. 

In 1825 they were at war with the United States, but July 
30th, of that year, concluded a peace. 

About 1833 Mr. Catlin visited this tribe, and painted 
many of the portraits of the principal men. At that time 
they inhabited two villages about two miles apart, on the 
west side of the Missouri river, two hundred miles below 
the mouth of the Yellow Stone, and numbered nearly 2,000 
persons. Within the memory of many of those now living, 
their location was some eighty miles further down the river, 
and numbered ten villages. 

Their traditions, related to Mr. Catlin, carry them back to 
the Ohio river, from whence they were driven to the Mis- 
souri. Mr. Catlin saw " many remains on the river below 
these places (and, in fact, to be seen nearly as low down as 
St. Louis), which show clearly the peculiar construction of 
Mandan lodges." These lodges were always surrounded 
with a ditch two feet deep, which long remains, and distin- 



222 UPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 

guishes unmistakably their locality. Mr. Catlin subse- 
quently says that he noticed about twenty points down the 
river, where he found evidence of Mandan villages ; and at 
one, five hundred miles below their then residence, he found 
two hundred skulls arranged in a circle in the peculiar Man- 
dan order ; but the skulls had so long been there that they 
would crumble to powder. This would indicate a residence 
there probably one hundred and fifty years previous. The 
name which the tribe call themselves, See-pohs-kah-nu-mah- 
kah-kee, or "people of the pheasants," may indicate an 
Ohio origin, as pheasants are a very scarce bird on the 
Missouri river. They claim to have been the original 
people created, to have once been very numerous, but had 
become much reduced by old wars. 

In 1838 the traders carried the small-pox to the Mandan 
villages, and the greater part of them died. A few of them 
still maintain their tribal name in the Dakota territory, near 
the Gros- Ventres and Arickarees ; and all three of those 
tribes in 1865 only contained 2,500 persons. 

We have placed the Mandans in the O-chunk-o-raw con- 
federacy, on account of their traditions, residences, and lan- 
guage ; for by traditions they were from the Ohio, and the 
Rev. Father De Smet, the Oregon missionary, speaking of 
the Winnebagoes in 1865, said " they appear to be distinctly 
related to the Mandans, there being a similarity in their 
respective languages." They were probably a band of the 
" Akansea," driven from the Ohio by the Iroquois about 
1660, and fled up the Missouri, instead of following their 
tribe to the Arkansas river. 

Mr. Catlin, however, argues that they might have been 
the Mound-Builders of Ohio, and descendants of Modoc, 
the Welsh captain, who, it is said, left Europe for the west in 
the thirteenth century, with ten ships, and was never heard 
from afterwards. We answer that hypothesis by reference 
to the well-established fact, that a portion of the mounds of 
Ohio are more than 1,000 years old, and such is their extent 



MANDANS. 228 

that Modoc and his followers could not have built them in 
2,000 years. Besides, the Welsh had no customs or super- 
stitions at that day which would probably have led them to 
undertake such an amount of labor. Indeed, the writer 
believes that the Indians of America show no evidence of a 
European origin for the last thousand years. 

At present, the Mandans are associated with the Arick- 
arees and Gros-Ventres, who may be a kindred people. 
The government made a treaty with them collectively in 
1866, by which they obtained a cession of a tract of land 
twenty-five by forty miles, together with the right of way 
across their territory. It also contained provisions in aid 
of the civilization of the bands. . 



CHAPTER XL 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 

This powerful confederacy was called by the Algonquin 
nations " Nadouessioux," or " Enemies,*' a word clothed in 
French orthography, which was abbreviated or contracted 
to " Sioux," (Soo,) the common name for the tribe among 
the English and French traders for the last two hundred 
years. They, however, called themselves Dakota, or Con- 
federates. 

They spoke the same language, and claimed in their tradi- 
tions that they were originally created at Mille Lac, the seat 
of their empire, when first visited by Rev. Father Hennepin 
in 1680. Their territory extended from Lake Superior to 
the Rocky mountains. When the Algonquin nations were 
crowded back upon them, about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century, they became involved with those nations in 
constant wars to defend their eastern frontier. 

When the English settled Hudson's Bay, they furnished 
the Christinaux with fire-arms, and they thereby enabled 
that tribe to force a peace with the Assiniboins, or Rock 
Indians, the northern band of the Sioux, by which that band 
became alienated from the confederacy. This peace was 
the one probably negotiated by the French officer, De Lut, 
in 1679. 

The aggressions of the fugitive Algonquins and Hurons 
upon the Sioux becoming unbearable, in the spring of 1671 
they attacked those tribes at the head of Lake Superior, 



DAKOTA, OK SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 225 

and cleared the lake of their enemies. The Chippeways 
returned to the falls of St. Mary, the Ottawas to the islands 
on the north side of Lake Huron, and the Hurons to Mack- 
inaw island, while the Sacs, Foxes, Miamies, Mascotens and 
Klckapoos returned to the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and 
the Illinois to their home on the river of that name. This 
war was settled by De Lut, in 1679, by peace between the 
Chippeways, Christinaux, and Assiniboins, but on the 
south it continued until 1702. 

In 1700, the southern bands of the Sioux, who do not 
apjDear to have ever been reconciled to the Christinaux, 
killed some of the latter tribe which they found among the 
Assiniboins ; upon which the war was renewed, the latter 
band taking the part of the Christinaux. The Chippe- 
ways joined the northern confederacy. The Sacs and Foxes, 
and their confederates, becoming dissatisfied with the Chip- 
peways, in 1702 were induced by the Sioux to make peace 
and join the latter tribe. Here commenced the great war 
which, in later years, has been called the " hereditary war 
between the Sioux and Chippeways." 

The Assiniboins, who lived on the west of Lake Superior, 
soon passed west of the Red river of the north, perhaps to 
avoid the war path, while many of the Ottawas and other 
northern Algonquin nations joined the Chippeways, and in 
process of time became known as the " Ojibwa confeder- 
acy." This powerful confederacy, constantly receiving 
reinforcements from the northern hordes, continued to press 
down upon the Sioux until the treaty of Prairie Du Chien, 
in 1825, when they made good their title to the territory 
extending south to St. Croix falls and Sauk rapids, and 
west to the Red river of the north. When Hole-in-the-Day, 
at that treaty, was asked by the commissioner why he 
claimed so far south and west, he arose and with great 
emphasis declared, " We conquered it." This left to the 
conquerors the ancient home of the Dakotas at Mille Lac, 
15 



^Reside in Dakota territory. 



226 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

where they claimed that they were created by Wakon, the 
Great Spirit. 

When the Dakotas were visited by Le Sueur in 1700, they 
enumerated by name sixteen bands, without including the 
Assiniboins, which then constituted their confederacy. 

It is not easy to name these bands at the present time, 
but the following are known to exist : 

Wahpakoota, C Resided in Minnesota, and originated the mas- 

Medawakanton, \ sacre in 1862. 

, v , C Resided in Minnesota, and were called " upper 

wanpaton, ^ bands." These four bands are often called 

sisseton, ^ Santees. Reservation at Fort Randall. 

Yankton 

Yanktonai, 

Brule, 

Two Kettle, 

Teton, - 
Blackfeet, 
Minnecongou, 
Oncpapas, 
Sans Arcs, 
Ogallallas, 
Assiniboins, 

The language of the Dakota, or Confederates, is peculiar 
to that nation, and, although guttural, is readily learned by 
traders and missionaries. The latter have collected it into 
a dictionary with grammatical rules, and also translated the 
Bible into it. 

After the war with Great Britain closed, the United 
States made treaties of peace with the most of the Dakotas. 
Jn 1825 the United States called together the several north- 
western tribes at Prairie Du Chien, with a view of inducing 
the Indians to define and settle their territorial boundaries, 
and establish a general peace, but the scheme was only 
partially successful. They succeeded, however, in estab- 
lishing a line between the Sioux and Chippeways, which, 
we believe, was acquiesced in by those two nations, and 
was as follows : Beginning " at the Chippewa river, half a 
day's march below the falls ; and from thence it shall run 
to Red Cedar river, immediately below the falls; from 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 227 

thence to the St. Croix river, which it strikes at a place 
called the Standing Cedar, about a day's paddle in a canoe 
above the lake, at the mouth of that river ; thence passing 
between two lakes, called by the Chippeways ' Green lakes,' 
and by the Sioux * the lakes they bury the eagles in ;' from 
thence to the standing cedar that l the Sioux split ;' thence 
to Rum river, crossing it at the mouth of a small creek 
called * Choking creek," a long day's march from the Mis- 
sissippi ; thence to a point of woods that propels into the 
prairie, half a day's march from the Mississippi ; thence in 
a straight line to the mouth of the first river which enters 
the Mississippi on its west side above the mouth of Sac 
river ; thence ascending the said river (above the mouth of 
Sac river) to a small lake at its source ; thence in a direct 
line to a lake at the head of Prairie river, which is supposed 
to enter the Crow Wing river on its south side ; thence to 
Otter-tail lake portage ; thence to said Otter-tail lake, and 
down through the middle thereof to its outlet ; thence in a 
direct line so as to strike Buffalo river, half way from its 
source to its mouth, and down the said river to Red river ; 
thence descending Red river to the mouth of Outard or 
Goose creek." . . . " The eastern boundary of the Sioux 
commences opposite the mouth of Iowa river (upper Iowa,) 
on the Mississippi, runs back two or three miles to the 
bluffs, follows the bluffs, crossing Bad Ax river to the mouth 
of Black river, and from Black river to half a day's march 
below the falls of the Chippewa river." 

By the treaty of September 29, 1837, the Sioux "ceded 
to the United States all their lands east of the Mississippi 
river, and all their islands in the said river." A reference 
to the boundary aforesaid, described in the treaty of 1825, 
will show the extent of this purchase. 

The following provisions of the treaty of 1837 will show 
the consideration paid the Sioux for said land, and for con- 
tinuing the initiatory steps taken by the United States for 
civilizing those Indians in 1830: 



228 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

"Article II. In consideration of the cession contained 
in the preceding article, the United States agree to the fol- 
lowing stipulations on their part : 

"1st. To invest the sum of $300,000 in such safe and 
profitable State stocks as the President may direct, and to 
pay to the chiefs and braves as aforesaid, annually, forever, 
an income of not less than five per cent, thereon ; a portion 
of said interest, not exceeding one-third, to be applied in 
such manner as the President may direct, and the residue to 
be paid in specie, or such other manner, and for such 
objects, as the proper authorities of the tribe may designate. 

" 2nd. To pay to the relatives and friends of the chiefs 
and braves, as aforesaid, having not less than one quarter 
of Sioux blood, $110,000, to be distributed by the proper 
authorities of the tribe, upon principles to be determined by 
the chiefs and braves signing this treaty, and the war 
department. 

" 3rd. To apply the sum of $90,000 to the payment of 
just debts of the Sioux Indians, interested in the lands 
herewith ceded. 

" 4th. To pay to the chiefs and braves, as aforesaid, an 
annuity for twenty years of $10,000 in goods, to be purchased 
under the direction of the President, and delivered at the 
expense of the United States. 

"5th. To expend annually, for twenty years, for the 
benefit of Sioux Indians, parties to this treaty, the sum of 
$8,250, in the purchase of medicines, agricultural imple- 
ments, and stock, and for the support of a physician, 
farmers, and blacksmiths, and for other beneficial objects. 

" 6th. In order to enable the Indians aforesaid to break 
up and improve their lands, the United States will supply, 
as soon as practicable after the ratification of this treaty, 
agricultural implements, mechanics' tools, cattle, and such 
other articles as may be useful to them, to an amount not 
exceeding $10,000. 

" 7th. To expend annually, for twenty years, the sum of 



DAKOTA, OR SIOTJX CONFEDERACY. 229 

$5,500, in the purchase of provisions, to be delivered at the 
expense of the United States. 

" 8th. To deliver to the chiefs and braves signing this 
treaty, upon their arrival at St. Louis, $6,000 in goods." 

Under this treaty, the Sioux removed all their bands to 
the west bank of the Mississippi in 1838. 

By the treaty of September 10, 1836, Wa-ba-shaw's band 
of the Sioux released to the United States their interest in 
the tract of country between the Missouri State line and 
Missouri river, which was afterwards attached to that State, 
and became slave territory. A similar release was obtained 
from the Yankton and Santee bands of Sioux, and from the 
Ottoes, Missourias, and Omahas, by the treaty of October 
15th, 1836; and from the Wah-pa-kootah, Sissaton and 
upper Medawakanton bands of the Sioux, by treaty of 
November 30, 1836. 

By the treaty of Prairie Du Chien, of August 19, 1825, 
the boundary line between the Sioux and Sacs and Foxes, 
was established as follows : " Commencing at the mouth 
of the upper Iowa river, on the west bank of the Missis- 
sippi, and ascending the said Iowa river to its left fork ; 
thence up that fork to its source ; thence crossing the fork 
of Red Cedar river in a direct line, to the second or upper 
fork of the Des Moines river ; thence in a direct line to the 
lower fork of the Calumet river, and down that river to the 
Missouri river." 

By article third of the treaty at Prairie Du Chien, July 
15th, 1830, the Medawakantons, Wah-pa-koota, Wahpatons, 
and Sissatons bands of the Sioux, " cede and relinquish to 
the United States, forever, a tract of country twenty miles 
in width, from the Mississippi to the Des Moines river, situ- 
ated north, and adjoining" the aforesaid line ; and the same 
bands, with the Yankton and Santee bands of Sioux, and 
the Iowas, Ottoes, Omahas and Missourias, further cede to 
the United States the country from the following line to the 
State of Missouri, as Indian territory for colonization : 



230 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

" Beginning at the upper fork of the Des Moines river, and 
passing the sources of the Little Sioux and Floyd's rivers, 
to the forks of the first creek which falls into the Big Sioux 
or Calumet on the east side ; thence down said creek and 
Calumet river to the Missouri river." 

This " Indian territory " was afterwards abandoned, and 
the Indians transferred to the west bank of the Missouri. 
It was in this treaty that the " half-breed reservation " was 
set off on the west side of the Mississippi and Lake Pepin, 
fifteen miles wide, and extending down the Mississippi from 
Red Wing thirty-two miles, to opposite the mouth of Buffalo 
river. 

For these purchases, the United States agreed to pay 
annually for ten years, to the Yankton and Santee bands, 
$3,000, and to the other Sioux bands, $2,000 ; and also 
furnish the latter Sioux bands " one blacksmith and the 
necessary tools, at the expense of the United States ; also 
instruments for agricultural purposes, and iron and steel to 
the amount of $700 annually, for ten years," and as much 
longer as the President may think proper ; and also furnish 
for the same period to the former Sioux bands, a blacksmith 
and tools, and agricultural implements to the amount of 
$400. The United States also paid and distributed among 
the several tribes who signed the treaty, in goods, $5,132, 
and set apart for educational purposes $3,000, to be paid 
annually for ten years. 

The great tide of emigration having in good earnest 
reached the upper Mississippi valley in 1850, the United 
States government were pressed for more Indian lands to 
accommodate the millions of all nations of the world, who 
were looking earnestly for homes in the finest agricultural 
region of the north-west ; and the authorities at Washington 
consequently turned their attention to the rich territories of 
the chivalrous Sioux. The thousands of bold warriors from 
the mighty Mississippi to the snow-clad Rocky mountains, 
were summoned to meet the high officials at Traverse Des 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 231 

/Sioux, on the Minnesota river, in the summer of 1851, where 
they were feasted and petted at government expense for 
nearly a month, when the terms of the two following 
treaties were agreed upon, and signed by L. Lea, the com- 
missioner of Indian affairs, and Governor Ramsey, of Min- 
nesota territory. 

The first was signed July 23rd, 1851, and the following 
is a copy of the several articles : 

" Article I. It is stipulated and solemnly agreed, that 
the peace and friendship now so happily existing between 
the United States and the aforesaid bands of Indians shall 
be perpetual. 

" Article II. The said See-see-toan and Wah-pay-toan 
bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians agree to cede, and do 
hereby cede, sell, and relinquish to the United States, all 
their lands in the State of Iowa ; and, also, all their lands 
in the territory of Minnesota, lying east of the following 
line, to wit: Beginning at the junction of the Buffalo river 
with the Red river of the north ; thence along the western 
bank of said Red river of the north to the mouth of the 
Sioux Wood river ; thence along the w T estern bank of said 
Sioux Wood river to Lake Traverse; thence along the 
western shore of said lake to the southern extremity thereof; 
thence in a direct line to the junction of Kampeska lake 
with the Tchan-kas-an-data or Sioux river ; thence along 
the western bank of said river to its point of intersection 
w T ith the northern line of the State of Iowa, including all the 
islands in said rivers and lake. 

Article III. In part consideration of the foregoing ces- 
sion, the United States do hereby set apart for the future 
occupancy and home of the Dakota Indians, parties to this 
treaty, to be held by them as Indian lands are held, all that 
tract of country on either side of the Minnesota river from 
the Western boundary of the lands herein ceded, east to 
the Tchay-tam Bay river on the north, and to the Yellow 
Medicine river on the south side, to extend, on each side, a 



232 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

distance of not less than ten miles from the general course 
of said river, the boundaries of said tract to be marked out 
by as straight lines as practicable, whenever deemed expe- 
dient by the President, and in such manner as he shall 
direct. 

" Article IV. In further and full consideration of said 
cession, the United States agree to pay to said Indians the 
sum of $1,665,000 at the several times, in the manner and 
for the purposes following, to wit : 

" 1st. To the chiefs of the said bands, to enable them 
to settle their affairs and comply with their present just 
engagements ; and in consideration of their removing them- 
selves to the country set apart for them as above, which 
they agree to do within two years, or sooner, if required by 
the President, without further cost or expense to the United 
States, and in consideration of their subsisting themselves 
the first year after their removal, which they agree to do 
without further cost or expense on the part of the United 
States, the sum of $275,000. Provided, That said sum 
shall be paid to the chiefs in such manner as they hereafter, 
in open council, shall request, and as soon after the removal 
of said Indians to the home set apart for them as the neces- 
sary appropriation therefor shall be made by Congress. 

" 2nd. To be laid out, under the direction of the Presi- 
dent, for the establishment of manual labor schools, the 
erection of mills and blacksmith shops, opening farms, 
fencing and breaking land, and for such other beneficial 
objects as may be deemed most conducive to the prosperity 
and happiness of said Indians, $30,000. 

" The balance of said sum of $1,665,000, to wit, 
$1,360,000, to remain in trust with the United States, and 
live per cent, interest thereon to be paid annually to said 
Indians for the period of fifty years, commencing the first 
day of July, 1852, which shall be in full payment of said 
balance, principal and interest; the said payment to be 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 233 

applied, under the direction of the President, as follows, to 
wit: 

" 3rd. For a general agricultural improvement and civil- 
ization fund, the sum of $12,000. 

" 4th. For educational purposes, the sum of $6,000. 

" 5th. For the purchase of goods and provisions, the sum 
of $10,000,000. 

" 6th. For money annuity, the sum of $40,000. 

" Article V. The laws of the United States prohibiting 
the introduction and sale of spirituous liquors in the Indian 
country, shall be in full force and effect throughout the 
territory hereby ceded, and lying in Minnesota, until other- 
wise directed by Congress or the President of the United 
States. 

" Article VI. Pules and regulations to protect the 
rights of persons and property among the Indians, parties 
to this treaty, and adapted to their condition and wants, 
may be prescribed and enforced in such manner as the 
President or the Congress of the United States from time 
to time shall direct." 

The Senate, June 23rd, 1852, amended the said treaty by 
striking out all of article third and adding the following, 
Avhich was afterwards consented to by the Sioux : 

" 1st. The United States do hereby stipulate to pay the 
Sioux bands of Indians, parties to this treaty, at the rates 
of ten cents per acre for the lands included in the reserva- 
tion provided for in the third article of the treaty as 
originally agreed upon. 

" 2nd. It is further stipulated, that the President be 
authorized, with the assent of the said bands of Indians, 
parties to this treaty, and as soon after they shall have given 
their assent to the foregoing article as may be convenient, 
to cause to be set apart, by appropriate landmarks and 
boundaries, such tracts of country, without the limits of the 
cession made by the first [2nd] article of the treaty, as may 
be satisfactory, for their future occupancy and home : 
15* 



234 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Provided, that the President 'may, by the consent of these 
Indians, vary the conditions aforesaid, if deemed expe- 
dient." 

The second treaty purports to have been signed August 
5th, 1851, at Mendota, at the mouth of Minnesota river, 
and was made between the United States and Med-ay-wa- 
Jcan-toan and Wah-pay-koo-tay bands of the Dakota, or 
Sioux, by which those bands ceded to the United States all 
their interest in the lands in Minnesota or Iowa, and in con- 
sideration of such cession those bands were made tenants 
in common of a reservation along the Minnesota river, ten 
miles wide on each side, and the United States agreed to 
pay them $1,410,000. The further provisions of the treaty 
were substantially the same as were contained in the treaty 
with See-see-toan and Wa7i-pay-toan bands, of the 23rd of 
July of the same year. The treaty was amended by the 
Senate substantially as the other, and the amendment 
ratified by the bands at St. Paul, September 4th, 1862. 
Both treaties were ratified by the President's proclamation, 
dated February 24th, 1853. 

In 1858 the United States concluded a treaty with the 
Yankton band of Sioux, by which that band ceded all their 
lands, except a reservation of 400,000 acres, extending thirty 
miles along the east bank of the Missouri river, above the 
Chouteau river, for which the United States engaged to pay 
annuities amounting to $1,600,000. The treaty contained 
the usual provisions for schools and agricultural improve- 
ments. It was ratified by the Senate, and published by the 
President's proclamation, dated February 26th, 1859. 

The Sioux bands being unwilling to leave their reserva- 
tion under the treaty of August 5th, 1851, as required by 
the amendment of the Senate in striking out article third, a 
new treaty was made with them at Washington, June 19th, 
1858, with the following provisions: 

"Article I. It is hereby agreed and stipulated that, as 
soon as practicable after the ratification of this agreement, 



DAKOTA, OE SIOUX CONFEDERxVCY. 235 

so much of that part of the reservation or tract of land now 
held and possessed by the Mendawakanton and YVahpakoota 
bands of the Dakota or Sioux Indians, and which is de- 
scribed in the third article of the treaty made with them on 
the 5th day of August, 1851, which lies south or south- 
westwardly of the Minnesota river, shall constitute a reser- 
vation for said bands, and shall be surveyed, and eighty 
acres thereof, as near as may be in conformity with the 
public surveys, be allotted in severalty to each head of a 
family, or single person over the age of twenty-one years, 
in said bands of Indians, said allotments to be so made as 
to include a proper proportion of timbered land, if the same 
be practicable, in each of said allotments. The residue of 
said part of said reservation not so allotted shall be held by 
said bands in common, and as other Indian lands are held : 
Provided, however, that eighty acres thereof, as near as 
may be, shall, in like manner as above provided for, be 
allotted to each of the minors of said bands on his or her 
attaining their majority, or on becoming heads of families 
by contracting marriage, if neither of the parties shall have 
previously received land. 

"AH the necessary expenses of the surveys and allotments 
thus provided for, shall be defrayed out of the funds of said 
bands of Indians in the hands of the government of the 
United States. 

"As the members of said bands become capable of man- 
aging then* business and affairs, the President of the United 
States may, at his discretion, cause patents to be issued to 
them, for the tracts of land allotted to them respectively, in 
conformity with this article ; said tracts to be exempt from 
levy, taxation, sale or forfeiture, until otherwise provided for 
by the legislature of the State in which they are situated 
with the assent of Congress ; nor shall they be sold or alien- 
ated in fee, or be in any other manner disposed of except 
to the United States, or to members of said bands. 

"Article II. Whereas by the treaty with the Mendawa- 



236 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

kanton and Wahpakoota bands of Sioux Indians, concluded 
at Mendota on the 5th day of August, 1851, said bands 
retained for their ' future occupancy and home,' ' to be held 
by them as Indian lands are held, a tract of country of the 
average width of ten miles on either side of the Minnesota 
river,' extending from Little Rock river to the Tchatamba 
and Yellow Medicine rivers, which land was to ' be held by 
said bands in common.' 

"And whereas the Senate of the United States so amended 
said treaty as to strike therefrom the provision setting apart 
said land as a home for said bands, and made provision for 
the payment to said bands ' at the rate often cents per acre 
for the lands included in the ' said tract so reserved and set 
apart for the ' occupancy and home ' of said bands, and also 
provided in addition thereto, that there should be ' set apart, 
by appropriate landmarks and boundaries, such tracts of 
country without the limits of the cession made by the first 
article of the ' said treaty, as should ' be satisfactory for 
their future occupancy and home,' said Senate amendment 
providing also ' that the President may, with the consent of 
these Indians, vary the conditions aforesaid, if deemed 
expedient ; ' all of which provisions in said amendment 
were assented to by said Indians. 

"And whereas the President so far varied the conditions 
of said Senate amendment as to permit said bands to locate 
for the time being upon the tract originally reserved by said 
bands for a home, and no ' tracts of country without the 
limits of the cession ' made in the said treaty has [have] 
ever been provided for, or offered to, said bands : 

"And whereas by the * act making appropriations for the 
current and contingent expenses of the Indian department, 
and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian 
tribes,' approved July 31, 1854, the President was author- 
ized to confirm to the Sioux of Minnesota forever, the 
reserve on the Minnesota river now occupied by them, upon 
such conditions as he may deem just: 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 237 

"And whereas, although the President has not directly 
confirmed said reserve to said Indians, they claim that as 
they were entitled to receive ' such tracts of country ' as 
should 'be satisfactory for their future occupancy and 
home,' and as no such country has been provided for, or 
offered to, said bands, it is agreed and stipulated that the 
question shall be submitted to the Senate for decision 
whether they have such title ; and if they have, what com- 
pensation shall be made to them for that part of said reser- 
vation or tract of land lying on the north side of the Min- 
nesota river — whether they shall be allowed a specific sum 
of money therefor, and if so, how much ; or whether the 
same shall be sold for their benefit, they to receive the 
proceeds of such sale, deducting the necessary expenses 
incident thereto. Such sale, if decided in favor of by the 
Senate, shall be made under and according to regulations 
to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and in 
such manner as will secure to them the largest sum it may 
be practicable to obtain for said land. 

"Article III. It is also agreed that if the Senate shall 
authorize the land designated in article two of this agree- 
ment to be sold for the benefit of the said Mendawakanton 
and Wahpakoota bands, or shall prescribe an amount to be 
paid said bands for their interest in said tract, provision 
shall be made by which the chiefs and head men of said 
bands may, in their discretion, in open council, authorize to 
be paid out of the proceeds of said tract, such sum or sums 
as may be found necessary and proper, not exceeding 
seventy thousand dollars, to satisfy their just debts and 
obligations, and to provide goods to be taken by said chiefs 
and head men to the said bands upon their return : Pro- 
vided, however, That their said determinations shall be 
approved by the superintendent of Indian affairs for the 
northern superintendency for the time being, and the said 
payments be authorized by the Secretary of the Interior. 

"Article IV. The lands retained and to be held by the 



238 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

members of the Mendawakanton and Wahpakoota bands 
of the Dakota or Sioux Indians, under and by virtue of the 
first article of this agreement, shall, to all intents and 
purposes whatever, be deemed and held to be an Indian 
reservation ; and the laws which have been, or may here- 
after be enacted by Congress, to regulate trade and inter- 
course with the Indian tribes, shall have full force and effect 
over and within the limits of the same ; and no person 
other than the members of the said bands, to be ascertained 
and defined under such regulations as the Secretary of the 
Interior shall prescribe, unless such as may be duly licensed 
to trade with said bands, or employed for their benefit, or 
members of the family of such persons, shall be permitted 
to reside or make any settlement upon any part of said 
reservation ; and the timbered land allotted to individuals, 
and also that reserved for subsequent distribution as pro- 
vided in the first article of this agreement, shall be free 
from all trespass, use, or occupation, except as hereinafter 
provided. 

"Article V. The United States shall have the right to 
establish and maintain upon said reservation such military 
posts, agencies, schools, mills, shops, roads, and agricultural 
or mechanical improvements, as may be deemed necessary, 
but no greater quantity of land or timber shall be taken 
and used for said purposes than shall be actually requisite 
therefor. And if in the establishment or maintenance of 
such posts, agencies, roads or other improvements, the 
timber or other property of any individual Indian shall be 
taken, injured, or destroyed, just and adequate compensa- 
tion shall be made therefor by the United States. Roads or 
highways authorized by competent authority other than the 
United States, the lines of which shall lie through said 
reservation, shall have the right of way through the same, 
upon the fair and just value of such right being paid to the 
said Mendawakanton and Wahpakoota bands by the party 
or parties authorizing or interested in the same, to be 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 239 

assessed and determined in such manner as the Secretary 
of the Interior shall direct. 

"Article VI. The Mendawakanton and Wahpakoota 
bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians acknowledge their de- 
pendence on the government of the United States, and do 
hereby pledge and bind themselves to preserve friendly 
relations with the citizens thereof, and to commit no injuries 
or depredations on their persons or property, nor on those 
of the members of any other tribe ; but in case of any such 
injury or depredation, full compensation shall, as far as 
practicable, be made therefor out of their moneys in the 
hands of the United States ; the amount in all cases to be 
determined by the Secretary of the Interior. They further 
pledge themselves not to engage in hostilities with the 
Indians of any other tribe unless in self-defense, but to 
submit, through their agent, all matters of dispute and diffi- 
culty between themselves and other Indians, for the decision 
of the President of the United States, and to acquiesce in 
and abide thereby. They also agree to deliver to the proper 
officers all persons belonging to their said bands who may 
become offenders against th£ treaties, laws, or regulations 
of the United States, or the laws of the State of Minnesota, 
and to assist in discovering, pursuing, and capturing all 
such offenders whenever required so to do by such officers, 
through the agent or other proper officer of the Indian 
department. 

"Article VII. To aid in preventing the evils of intem- 
perance, it is hereby stipulated that if any of the members 
of the said Mendawakanton and Wahpakoota bands of 
Sioux Indians shall drink, or procure for others, intoxicating 
liquors, their proportion of the annuities of said bands shall, 
at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, be with- 
held from them for the period of at least one year ; and for 
a violation of any of the stipulations of this agreement on 
the part of any members of said bands, the persons so 
offending shall be liable to have their annuities withheld, 



240 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

and to be subject to such other punishment as the Secretary 
of the Interior may prescribe. 

"Article VIII. Such of the stipulations of former treaties 
as provided for the payment of particular sums of money to 
the said Mendawakanton and Wahpakoota bands, or for the 
application or expenditure of specific amounts for particular 
objects or purposes, shall be, and hereby are, so amended 
and changed as to invest the Secretary of the Interior with 
discretionary power in regard to the manner and objects of 
the annual expenditure of all such sums or amounts which 
have accrued and are now due to said bands, together with 
the amount the said bands shall become annually entitled 
to under and by virtue of the provisions of this agreement : 
Provided, The said sums or amounts shall be expended for 
the benefit of said bands at such time or times, and in such 
manner as the said Secretary shall deem best calculated to 
promote their interests, welfare, and advance in civilization. 
And it is further agreed, that such change may be made in 
the stipulations of former treaties which provide for the 
payment of particular sums for specified purposes, as to 
permit the chiefs and braves* of said bands, or any of the 
subdivisions of said bands, with the sanction of the Secre- 
tary of the Interior, to authorize such payment or expendi- 
tures of their annuities, or any portion thereof, which are to 
become due hereafter, as may be deemed best for the gen- 
eral interests and welfare of the said bands or subdivisions 
thereof." 

The same difficulty existing with the Sisseton and Wah- 
paton bands of the Sioux, under their treaty of July 23rd, 
1851, a new treaty was also made with them, of the date of 
June 19th, 1858, containing nearly the same provisions as 
the treaty with the other bands. 

Both of the foregoing treaties were ratified, without 
amendment, by the President, March 31st, 1859. 

The treaty of 1858, providing for the survey and allotment 
of eighty acres in severalty to each head of a family, and to 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 241 

each person under twenty-one years of age, placed the 
Sioux bands in position for civilization, and the energies of 
government were pointed in that direction. An attempt 
had been made soon after the treaty of 1837 to induce the 
Sioux to learn agriculture, by appointing farmers amongst 
them ; but it w as thoroughly demonstrated that an Indian 
would not become a farmer until he could be protected in 
the enjoyment of the fruits of his labor. 

In 1835 attempts were successfully made to introduce 
Christianity among the Sioux, and from that time civiliza- 
tion began to attract their attention. In 1856 the " Hazel- 
wood Republic" was formed, by the association of a few of 
the Sissetons and Wah-pay-tons most advanced in civiliza- 
tion, who desired to throw off their tribal relations. They 
elected a president and council, and a part of them put on 
the white man's dress. In the fall of 1857 twelve families 
of the Menda-wah-kan-tons and Wah-pah-koo-tah bands 
formed a similar association, and bound themselves to wear 
the white man's dress, and refrain from the use of spirituous 
liquors. During the year ending September 30th, 1858, 
some forty-five houses were built for individuals of the two 
latter bands, and from two to five acres ploughed about each 
house. Among the Sisseton and Wah-pay-ton bands nine 
houses were put up, mainly by the Indians, and some fields 
cultivated. The machinery of three steam saw-mills was 
sent for, and special efforts made for future improvement. 
The Hon. Joseph R. Brown had been appointed Indian 
agent for the Sioux, and being a man of judgment and 
ability, and long connected with those Indians as a trader, 
he well understood their necessities, and set himself vigor- 
ously at work to improve their condition. 

Previous to the treaty of 1858, nearly a million of money 
had been expended by the government for the civilization 
of these Indians ; but in despair the Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs stated in his official report of November, 1857, 
that " they have been indolent, extravagant, and intem- 
16 



242 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

perate, and have wasted their means without improving, or 
seeming to desire to improve their condition." 

The inducements held out to the Indians for going to 
farming, under the treaty of 1858, was to give each Indian 
eighty acres of land, a yoke of oxen, one wagon, farming 
utensils and seed, and help him build a good, comfortable 
house, and break and fence a portion of the land. The 
evidence required of the Indians as a pledge on their part 
that they would continue as farmers, was that they should 
submit to have their hair cut in American style, and thereby 
lose their " scalp lock," and that they should put on the 
American dress. 

In 1859, the agent reported that over two hundred, princi- 
pally heads of families, including some chiefs, who had been 
" shorn of the scalp lock," had presented themselves as 
candidates for farmers, and were contemptuously called by 
their brethren the " white Indians." Thus these favorable 
omens of civilization were accompanied by sneers and the 
contemptuous treatment of other portions of the tribe, which 
at times extended to open violence. Much of this opposi- 
tion was generated by the " medicine men," or pagan priests, 
who correctly imagined that the complete success of this 
movement would destroy their occupation and influence; 
hence they were assiduous in stirring up opposition. To 
defend the farmer Indians, the agent was obliged to call for 
military assistance from the United States troops. 

During 1859, government furnished seeds and agricul- 
tural implements to the value of $2,450, and oxen, wagons, 
and plows to the value of $17,000, and plowed 1,816 acres 
of land. The machinery for three saw-mills, two shingle 
and two lath mills, were put in operation, and a consider- 
able amount of lumber manufactured. 

The educational department was not neglected, and two 
buildings for superintendent of schools, and two for manual 
labor schools, and some other school-houses were erected, 



DAKOTA, OR SIOUX CONFEDERACY. 243 

at the aggregate expense of $2,985, and several schools put 
in operation. 

Captain Gibson, of the second artillery, who attended at 
the payments to the Sioux in June, 1860, in his official dis- 
patch, speaking of the Indian improvements, said : " The 
agent began this movement in 1858 with sixteen Indians, 
who were persuaded by Superintendent Cullen to be shorn 
of their ' scalp locks,' and put on the white man's dress. 
. . . The next year, two of the most noted chiefs, 
Wabashaw and Wakute, with more than a hundred others, 
submitted to the same ordeal. . . . Without the aid 
and shield of government, the farming Indian could not 
continue his work one moment; without that assurance, 
not one would dare to throw off the blanket ; protection is 
the salvation of this work. . . . For want of protection, 
the c Hazelwood Republic,' that commenced auspiciously, 
has already been broken up by the hostilities, the unchecked 
and still unpunished depredations and murders committed 
by the neighboring bands." 

But in the midst of their prosperity came also adver- 
sity, and the demon of 1861 hurled his arrows of sorrow 
at the poor Sioux. Consequent upon the change of 
President was the change of officers connected with the 
civilization of the tribe, and the poor Sioux, who had so 
patiently toiled under the direction of the genial face of 
Hon. J. R. Brown, were obliged to look upon the strange 
face of a new agent. The troops which had protected them 
were withdrawn, to go to the defenoe of Washington, and 
the vague rumors of the great rebellion crept slowly into 
the suspicious mind of the untutored savage. 

The new agent of schools found " scarcely a building 
on the reservation adapted for any kind of school use," and 
that, " if schools are kept, additions must be made to the 
shells called school buildings ;" and further, that " not one 
dollar has been received from any quarter applicable to 
school purposes since my appointment, the first of June last, 



244 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

consequently but little has been done upon which to report." 
He even " discontinued the manual labor school." 

The general agent for the Sioux, October 1st, 1861, 
reported that a military force was necessary, and further 
remarked : "I will simply say that there is no available 
force now for this purpose, and that if such force is not pro- 
vided, the work of civilization must be greatly retarded, if 
not abandoned." The $6,000 received by the agent to pay 
the employees, was partly applied to settle their claims from 
April 1st to June 30th, 1861, leaving a small balance to 
apply on the future quarter. 

Finally, October 5th, of the same year, the acting Com- 
missioner of Indian Affairs called on the government for 
" seven companies, of one hundred each, of troops, one of 
which should be cavalry, as a guard for the frontier." 
These difficulties, which alarmed the government, were said 
by agent Thompson to have been caused by : 

" 1st. The allowance, by the department at Washington, 
last year, of a claim of $5,500, which was deducted from 
their annuity. 

" 2nd. The renewal of old questions by the Yanktons, in 
which they claim that they were part owners of the lands 
sold to the government by the treaty of 1851, by which the 
Sissetons and Wahpaytons, bands of Sioux, should be allowed 
to share in the annuities." 

The Indians were temporarily pacified, however, at the 
payment, September 16th, at "Yellow Medicine," by the 
" presence of two companies of troops from Fort Ridgley, 
and by liberal presents of beef cattle," and liberal promises. 
The troops demanded by the commissioner of Indian affairs 
were not furnished by government, the difficulties and rob- 
beries accumulated, and the following year culminated in 
the " Sioux massacre." 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 



The Sioux massacre, coming so unexpectedly, like the 
avalanche from the mountain, and having been so destruc- 
tive in its brief course, shocked the ' whole Union with 
horror ; and the professional letter-writers, really ignorant 
of its origin, divided their invectives between the depravity 
of the Indian and the depravity of Thomas J. Galbraith, 
Esq., the Indian agent. A few, however, opponents of 
civilization and Christianity, with supercilious smiles, asked 
you to look at " the effects of twenty-seven years of mis- 
sionary labor," and then turned on their heels with the most 
profound contempt for all the missionary labors of the 
world. 

Through the country the reports of the cause of the 
massacre might be divided about as follows : The whisky- 
sellers charged it directly on the missionaries, with whom 
they were in open hostility. The traders charged it upon the 
agent, for delaying the payments so that he could speculate 
by exchanging the gold, which bore a large premium, for 
greenbacks, the traders having expected to reap a great 
harvest in getting the gold on their Indian debts, and 
thereby securing the premium for themselves. The cunning 
republican, who wanted to make a little capital for his party, 
charged the massacre to the influence of "rebel sympa- 
thizers ; " and those " sympathizers," in return, charged it 
on the imbecility of the administration. The land specu- 



246 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

lators, who imagined that they could see fortunes in the tidy- 
Indian houses and farms, charged the troubles to the total 
depravity of the Indian character ; but some of the good 
missionaries, more charitable to their immediate neighbors, 
charged the whole affair to his majesty the devil, who was 
then engaged in one of his raids on mankind. 

The people of Minnesota at large, believing that the most 
of the charges were true, clamored for the unconditional 
removal or extermination of the whole nation of Sioux, and 
accompanied their clamor with such threats as satisfied the 
government that they were in earnest ; hence the govern- 
ment kept such Indians as had surrendered themselves 
under a military guard until the spring of 1863, when the 
most of them were sent and located high up the Missouri 
river. 

Agent Galbraith, to turn the attention of the public away 
from himself, declared, in his report on the causes of the 
massacre, that " ignorance, indolence, filth, lust, vice, big- 
otry, superstition and crime, make up the ancient customs 
of the Sioux Indians, and they adhere to the code with a 
tenacity and stoicism indefinable." In speaking of the 
" hereditary war " between the Sioux and Chippeways, the 
agent ignored the fact, and declared that, " There is no war 
or cause of war existing." " The feather is the cause of 
those malicious murders committed on the Chippeways, and 
to get ' the feather,' they would just as soon kill any body 
else as a Chippeway." 

It is too late in the nineteenth century to ignore that 
"hereditary war," for it is a notorious fact in Indian 
history, that that war has continued, with slight intervals, 
from 1700 to the present time, and that during that one 
hundred and sixty-seven years, the Sioux have been driven 
from Lake Superior to west of the Mississippi, and that 
among the numerous villages vacated to the victorious 
Chippeways, was Mille Lac, where was the seat of the 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 247 

Dakota Confederacy in 1680, and where, by the Sioux 
traditions, they were created. 

It is equally in conflict with history that the Sioux are so 
degraded and vicious, or such "inveterate cowards." 
Three successive attacks on Fort Ridgley, under a shower 
of shells from the cannon in the fort, besides a heavy fire of 
musketry, the last attack lasting nearly five hours, ought of 
itself to clear the Indians of the charge of cowardice ; and 
their delivering up several hundred captives without ransom, 
ought to be passed to the credit of their " total depravity." 

The Sioux, like the other tribes of Indians, have their 
peculiar manners and customs, with which the whites have 
long since become familiar, among which are killing women 
and children in war. Such being the Indian custom, we 
have almost uniformly retaliated in kind, and it has long 
since been understood, that an Indian war is extermination 
on both sides. This system of extermination was practiced 
in the King Philip's war by the people of Massachusetts, by 
the Dutch of Manhattan, and the battle of Bad Ax showed 
no change. Even in this Sioux war we have taken com- 
paratively no prisoners, except such as the civilized Indians 
voluntarily delivered up to General Sibley, thirty-three of 
whom were tried, convicted, and hung, for aiding in the 
war, and nearly two hundred and seventy more were lately 
under the sentence of death, which the President refused to 
carry into effect. 

But agent Galbraith evidently comes nearer the merits of 
the cause of the war, when he states in his report that the 
Sioux " recited that, at the treaty, it was promised them 
that each one of them should have one blanket at least 
every year, and plenty of pork, flour and sugar to eat, and 
that every hunter should have his gun, and all the ammu- 
nition he wanted ; that white men would be hired to do all 
their work, and that coffee, tea, tobacco, hatchets, and such 
like, in large quantities, would be furnished them, and they 
should have * all they wanted ;' in addition to all of which 



248 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

things, money to the amount of $40,000 to the upper, and 
$46,000 to the lower bands, would be paid to them every 
year, and that they should be taken care of and never suffer 
from want any more." . . . " With such statements 
every speech teemed, whether made to the agent, superin- 
tendent, or in their own councils." 

The agent further remarked in his report : " In addition 
to the natural hostility of the wild Indians to the white men, 
I soon discovered that evil-disposed white men, and half- 
breeds in their interest, were engaged in keeping up this 
hostility, and in fomenting discontent." ..." Although 
my partiality to the white party was looked upon with great 
jealousy, yet I kept on as best I could, from the commence- 
ment until the outbreak, in aiding the w T ork of civilization. 
During my term, and up to the time of the outbreak, about 
one hundred and seventy-five Indian men had their hair 
cut, and had adopted the habits and customs of white men." 
These, with the one hundred and twenty-five which had 
been civilized under agent Brown, made three hundred 
men, mostly heads of families. To see these three hundred 
receive each a suit of clothes, oxen, wagon, grain, farming 
utensils, house, and eighty acres of land of the value of 
more than five hundred dollars, while the blanket Indians 
could not get even their necessary subsistence, tended to 
keep alive these jealousies, which were constantly fomented 
by the whisky-sellers, who had been banished from the 
tribe for the protection of this very civilization. 

This experiment at civilization was a part of the system 
which government had extended to most of the tribes that 
had lived on the borders of civilization, and it was the duty 
of government to protect it at all hazard against its enemies, 
either white or copper-colored. It was based on philan- 
thropy for the race, for it has become definitely settled that 
the only other alternative is extermination, to which the 
whisky-seller is most happily devoted. 

Such being the condition of the tribe, and the almost posi- 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 249 

tive certainty of an outbreak on the first exciting cause, the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington, as early as 
October 5th, 1861, called for seven companies of troops, of 
one hundred to each company, for " a guard to the 
frontier;" but Secretary Stanton, of the war department, 
neglected to furnish the guard, and when the outbreak 
occurred, nearly a year after, even Fort Ridgley was 
guarded by only eighty soldiers, while the whole frontier 
beyond was destitute of a single soldier. 

About the 25th of June, 1862, near the usual time of 
making the Indian payments, several chiefs and head men 
of the Sissetons and Wah-pay-tons visited the agency, and 
inquired about the payments, and whether they were going 
to get any money, alleging that they had been told that 
they were not to be paid. Again, on the 13th of July, some 
4,000 of the upper bands of the annuity Indians, with nearly 
1,000 of the Yanktons, assembled at the agency. The 
agent inquired what they came for, and they " answered that 
they were afraid something was wrong ; they feared they 
would not get their money, because white men had been 
telling them so." As the money was due and daily 
expected, the Indians were unwilling to return home, and 
there was but a limited supply of provisions to feed them. 
As day after*day passed away, the Indians began to com- 
plain of starvation ; and, finally, on the 4th of August, to 
the number of nearly five hundred and fifty, they broke 
open the warehouse, and carried off one hundred sacks of 
flour. 

This outbreak was compromised the next day, by giving 
the Indians, at their request, their annuity goods, and a 
supply of provisions, and on the 9th of August they left for 
home. 

During this time the Indians became informed of the 
defeat of General McClellan on the peninsula, and the call 
for 600,000 more troops by the President. 

As soon as the Indians left, the war fever broke out 



250 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

among the employees of government and half-breeds at the 
agency, and the Indian agent, Galbraith, left with a party 
of these volunteers on the 13th day of August, for Reef- 
wood, where he enlisted some twenty more on the 14th. 
On the 15th, he proceeded to FortRidgley, and from thence, 
on the 16th, he changed his base to New Ulm ; and on the 
fatal 18th, in the morning, the "Renville Rangers," fifty- 
five strong, might have been seen, under Captain Galbraith, 
filing out of New Ulm, and winding their serpentine course 
towards St. Peter. War fevers are known to be contagious, 
but the captain does not charge that it extended to the 
" cowardly" Sioux, although he asserted that Little Crow 
had repeatedly said to him : " When I arose this morning 
and looked towards the south, it seemed to me that I could 
see the smoke of the big guns, and hear the war-whoop of 
the contending soldiers." 

From all the investigations made, no evidence was found 
that this outbreak was stimulated by rebel agents or sympa- 
thizers, nor that it was a preconcerted conspiracy ; but, on 
the contrary, Little Crow himself had promised to have his 
hair cut and civilize, and the government was engaged in 
building his house, whilst he was contributing his personal 
attention to its erection, and three days before he expressed 
himself to the agent satisfied with its progress? 

The proximate cause of this outbreak may therefore be 
summed up as originating : 

1st. From the general dissatisfaction of the Indians over 
the treaty and the efforts at civilization, in a great measure 
generated by the whisky-sellers and traders. 

2nd. The neglect of the Treasurer to make the payment 
in the usual time. 

3rd. The neglect of the Secretary of War to furnish the 
guard for the frontier, as demanded by the Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs. 

4th. The war fever, and the belief of the Indians that the 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 251 

most of the men had left the country to go to the war, and 
that they were abandoned by the agent without payment. 

There were doubtless many other difficulties that affected 
the bands to some extent; but, with less than these, the 
Chippeways commenced an outbreak at nearly the same 
time, which was happily put down by a military force, and 
the presence of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, then on 
their way to Red river. 

There was, however, a more direct, exciting cause, which 
ignited the tinder of their discontent, which occurred as 
follows: On Sunday, August 17, 1862, at the village of 
Acton, Meeker county, Minnesota, four of the Lower 
Sioux, of Sha-ka-pee 1 s band, part of a hunting party of four- 
teen, returning from an expedition against the Chippeways, 
obtained whisky, became intoxicated, and killed six persons, 
including a man named Jones, from whom it was alleged 
they obtained the whisky. This party returned to their 
village at Rice creek, called a council of their relatives, and, 
according to agent Galbraith's report, discussed the matter 
as follows : " We have killed white men, and if caught, 
must die. Let us unite noio and kill the whites at the 
agency. It is a good time to carry out our original and 
long-cherished designs. The whites are all gone to the war 
except the old men and women and children. We can kill 
them all, take their property, and repossess ourselves of the 
land which we sold them, and occupy it." The agent fur- 
ther reports that " This harangue and others like it had the 
desired effect. About twenty warriors at once united into 
a war party, and started for Redwood creek, and towards 
the agency. As they proceeded they were joined by the 
warriors of the bands of Sha-ka-pee, Little Crow, Black 
Dog, or Big Eagle, Blue Earth, and Passing Hail, all ripe 
for the work proposed. These bands all had their villages 
and plantings from four to ten miles above the lower 
agency, and most of their young men and soldiers belonged 
to the soldiers' lodge. 



252 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

"By daylight on Monday, the 18th of August, this war 
party, now increased to about two hundred soldiers, armed 
and fierce for the fray, proceeded to the lower agency, hav- 
ing sent messengers to the bands of Saopi, Wabasha, 
Wakuta, Late-Comedu, and Husha-sha, who resided above 
and below the agency, informing them of the purpose, and 
asking and ordering them to join the war party forthwith, 
on pain of being punished, even to death, in case of refusal. 
As soon as the news of the up rising spread, the young men 
of these bands rushed up to the agency, and excitedly joined 
the war party, now being momentarily augmented in num- 
bers, and stimulated with courage and resolution." . . . 
" Many of the chiefs, old men and farmer Indians (generally 
friendly to the whites), remonstrated and even protested, 
but all was in vain ; ' the die was cast ;' madness ruled the 
hour. About six o'clock on this sad and eventful Monday 
morning, the work of death and devastation began." 

This was an attack at the lower agency, fifteen miles 
above Fort Ridgley, on the trading house of Stewart B. 
Garvie, known as " Myrick's." It spread to the other 
stores, and soon reached the government stables, ware- 
houses, shops and dwellings, which were plundered and 
burned, the people fleeing in all directions, panic-stricken. 
Some were shot down, some captured, and the balance fled 
for their lives. 

According to the report of the agent, Little Crow and his 
associate chiefs, in the beginning intended to make regular 
war, but they failed to control their young warriors, and it 
soon turned into a massacre after the style of the eighteenth 
century. 

News of the outbreak reached the Sisseton and Wah- 
pay-ton bands in the afternoon, and after a division in 
council, one hundred and fifty of those bands resolved to 
join the war party, and at two o'clock the next morning 
attacked another store of Mr. Garvie, mortally wounding 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 



253 



him, and seriously Mr. Patwell. The balance of the traders 
of that locality tied and escaped. 





Little Crow. 



Other-Day. 



At Yellow Medicine and Hazelwood missions, the mis- 
sionaries and government employees, numbering twenty- 
two men and forty women and children, left the agency at 
early dawn of Tuesday morning, under the advice and 
guidance of Ampe-tu-to-kecha, or Other Day, a full-blooded 
Christian Indian chief, struck out into the open prairie, and 
in four days reached Shakopee village, above St. Paul, on 
the Minnesota river. 

Rev. S. R. Riggs and Dr. T. S. Williamson, with teachers, 
assistants, and others, numbering forty-five, of the old 
Dakota mission, left Monday night, struck out into the 
prairie, and reached the settlements on the 24th, guided by 
Chaska and some other Christian Indians. 

On Monday, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, news reached 
Fort Ridgley of the outbreak at the agency at Redwood, 
and Captain Marsh, with about fifty of his soldiers, left for 
the agency, but were attacked at the ford near the agency, 
and badly cut to pieces, with the loss of the captain and 
twenty-three men killed; fifteen, however, succeeded in 
returning to the fort the same evening. At twelve o'clock, 
noon, of Monday, the gold for the Indian payment reached 
Fort Ridgley, having left New York by express August 11, 
only seven days previous. 



254 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

On Tuesday morning Captain Galbraith returned to the 
fort with fifty of his " Renville Rangers," which had been 
armed at St. Peter, and about the same hour Lieutenant 
Sheehan, of company C, 5th regiment, reached the fort with 
a force of fifty men. On Monday, about eleven in the fore- 
noon, Indian parties commenced pillaging and murdering 
about the country. 

After sacking the lower agency, the Indians, on Tuesday, 
the 19th, moved their camp to Little Crow's village, some 
four miles above, as a base for further operations, while a 
considerable force was dispatched to attack New Ulm, and 
several foraging parties were sent out in other directions. 

The attack on New Ulm commenced on Tuesday, at 
three o'clock in the afternoon, but was successfully resisted 
by the inhabitants, who were reinforced by Captain Flan- 
dreau's cavalry at six o'clock in the afternoon, when the 
Indians were charged and driven away with some loss. 
This Indian force was estimated at over two hundred, but 
from the small amount of damage done to the town, the 
estimate was probably too high. 

Failing in their attack on New Ulm, this force, with 
probably some additions, left for Fort Ridgley, distant 
eighteen miles, where they arrived at three o'clock in the 
afternoon of Wednesday, and marching up to the gateways 
and windows, fired a murderous volley at the men and 
women in the fort. According to the report of Lieutenant- 
Governor Donnelly, of Minnesota, made at Fort Ridgley 
the 29th of the same month : 

" It was a surprise. The first announcement was a volley 
fired through one of the openings or entrances into the 
parade ground of the fort, doing at once deadly execution. 
The men were rallied to their posts. Sergeant Jones, 
ordnance sergeant, attempted to use his guns, but, to his 
surprise, found they would not work. A howitzer was 
brought into play, and in the mean time the sergeant drew 
the charges from his pieces, and found that old rags had 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 255 

been stuffed into them. This was the critical moment. 
Had the courage of the Indians been equal to the opportu- 
nity, the fort would have fallen. The garrison was alarmed, 
the women and children screamed with uncontrollable panic, 
and the guns for a time disabled. But the moment passed, 
never to return." 

In reading the foregoing extract, we must bear in mind 
that Fort Ridgley was a government fort, and contained 
the remnant of Captain Marsh's company, fifty men under 
Lieutenant Sheehan, Captain Galbraith and fifty " Renville 
Rangers," $71,000 in gold for the Indian payment, and a 
large number of women, children, and refugees from 
the devastated country; and in open daylight, with the 
heavens lurid with burning buildings, and while their " war 
dogs" were stuffed with old rags, those " cowardly, sneak- 
ing, vicious Indians," set on by the " devil," were allowed 
to sneak up to the fort and fire a murderous volley at the 
men, women and children in the inside ! No wonder that 
the brave Captain Galbraith should hold such Indians in 
such contempt, for firing on the " Renville Rangers !" 

The report of the Lieutenant-Governor further says, " that 
the Indians continued the fight for three and a quarter 
hours, from the high grass and behind out-houses, logs, and 
every other object that could afford them shelter." The 
uneducated in Indian warfare will hardly be able to com- 
prehend why a fort in an Indian country should be sur- 
rounded with such conveniences for " cowardly" Indians; 
but it is possible that the brave Captain Galbraith might 
enlighten us on this subject. This battle, however, was not 
very fatal to life, as there were only three killed and eight 
wounded in the fort. 

The following day, Thursday, the attack on the fort was 
renewed at 9 o'clock, A. M., for half an hour, and at ten 
minutes to 6 o'clock, P. M., it was again renewed for another 
half hour. 

On Friday, at ten minutes before 2 o'clock, P. M., a third 



256 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

attack was made on the fort. This continued for nearly 
five hours, and was " most determined, bitter, and persist- 
ent, the guns sounding in one continuous rattle ;" and " at 
one time a charging party was placed close to the fort,' 
and the half-breeds could hear the chiefs shouting to the 
warriors to charge into the fort and seize the cannon ; but 
without avail; their courage was not equal to the task." 
In this attack one was killed, and a few slightly wounded 
in the fort. 

Failing in this final attack on the fort, the Indians, on 
Saturday morning, moved again upon New Ulm, and again 
attacked that place at half-past 11 o'clock, A. M. In a few 
minutes the Indians had fifteen houses in flames, and carried 
on their work of destruction with bravery until 5 o'clock, 
P. M., when Captain Flandreau rallied bis cavalry, and at 
their head charged the Indians in the brushwood at the 
lower end of the town, driving them out. This partially 
relieved the town for the night. During the night, while 
the Indians were having their war dances near by, the 
forces in town contracted their line of defence, and burnt 
the buildings outside of the line, so that they would not 
afford a shelter to the savages. 

On Sunday morning the attack was renewed at long 
range for an hour, the Indians not daring to charge across 
the ground made vacant during the night, after which they 
withdrew. During the siege ten men were killed and about 
fifty wounded. The Indian loss was supposed to be nearly 
forty. About noon a reinforcement of one hundred and 
fifty, under Captain Cox, arrived from St. Peter, and the 
following day New Ulm was evacuated without molestation. 

After the repulse at New Ulm, Little Crow broke camp, 
and changed his base to Yellow Medicine, distant twenty- 
five miles above Little Crow's village, which took two days, 
as the train of teams loaded with plunder, etc., was nearly 
five miles long. At the head of this procession was unfurled 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 257 

an old British flag, while several American flags gave a 
military aspect to this dusky line. 

At Yellow Medicine some time was spent in councils, and 
dispatches were sent off to the western band of Sioux, and 
to the British at the Selkirk settlement, notifying them that 
the Sioux had declared war against the United States, and 
asking them for their assistance. In these councils, " Little 
Crow" urged that they should immediately remove to the 
Selkirk settlement, and put themselves under the protection 
of the British, but he was overruled by the other chiefs. 
While encamped here, " Standing Buffalo," with two 
hundred warriors of the upper Sissetons, came down, and 
in council demanded of " Little Crow" the plunder taken at 
Yellow Medicine agency, as belonging to his band; but 
" Little Crow" refused, as he had done the fighting and was 
entitled to the plunder. " Standing Buffalo" then refused 
cooperation with " Little Crow," and returned home with 
his warriors, with some threats against the belligerent 
parties ; but it is claimed that some of his young warriors 
afterwards took part with " Little Crow." 

On the 28th of August, in the morning, Colonel Sibley 
arrived at Fort Ridgley with a detachment of troops for the 
relief of the fort, and to carry on offensive operations 
against the Indians. Three days after, Colonel Sibley sent 
out a detachment under Major Brown, consisting of one 
company of infantry under Captain Grant, and a company 
of cavalry under Captain Anderson, to reconbiter the country 
above the fort, and bury the dead. On the second morn- 
ing, at daybreak, at their camp in Birch Coolie, this detach- 
ment were wakened from their slumbers by a deadly volley 
from over three hundred Indians, distant only one hundred 
and twenty-five yards. The horses and cattle were soon all 
killed by the enemy, and became breast-works for our men ; 
the men also dug holes in the ground fur their protection. 
Here they were held in siege until 11 o'clock the next 
morning, when they were relieved by Colonel Sibley ; the 
17 



258 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

loss on our side was twenty-four killed and sixty-seven 
wounded. The same day these troops were relieved, 
" Little Crow" in person, with one hundred and fifty 
warriors, made an attack on the town of Henderson, but 
were repulsed. They succeeded, however, in carrying off 
some plunder. About the same time a considerable force 
attacked Fort Abercrombie, on Red river, but were repulsed. 

Colonel Sibley, having succeeded in arming his new 
troops, and in obtaining for them ten days' provisions, on 
the 18th of September he ordered an advance, crossed the 
river and pushed on for the Yellow Medicine agency, and 
arrived at Wood Lake, near the agency, on the evening of 
the 22nd. On the morning of the 23rd, the Indians in force 
attacked Colonel Sibley in camp some time after sunrise. 

The Indians occupied the high grass, and had disguised 
themselves by tying tufts of grass around their heads and 
waists. The battle thus progressed, until nearly noon, when 
the Indians, congregating in a ravine on our right, Colonel 
Sibley ordered the 7th regiment Minnesota volunteers to 
charge them. This charge was led by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Marshall, and the Indians were routed and put to flight. 
Unfortunately, however, Colonel Sibley had no sufficient 
mounted force to pursue the fleeing savages. In this charge, 
no prisoners were taken, and the wounded Indians were 
bayoneted by the first soldier who reached them ; and their 
repeated cry of " me good Indian," was only answered with 
the bayonet and a curse. 

The advance of Colonel Sibley had induced the Indians 
to remove their camp twenty miles further up the Minnesota 
river, above Yellow Medicine, where they were at the time 
of this decisive battle. 

The fugitive Indians made no further stand, but fled 
immediately to their camp, and hastened the departure of 
their families for the wilds of the upper Missouri river ; 
while those opposed to the war, and some others, took the 
prisoners, established for themselves a new camp, which 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 259 

they entrenched the same night, and sent a flag of truce to 
Colonel Sibley, offering to surrender themselves and pris- 
oners. 

On the 26th, at noon, Colonel Sibley reached this friendly 
e'aihp, and marching partly round them, camped near the 
river, taking possession of the Indian camp, and relieving 
one hundred and fifty helpless women and children who 
were held as prisoners. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall was dispatched with two 
hundred men in pursuit of " Little Crow,'' but only suc- 
ceeded in capturing by surprise a small band at Wild- 
Goose-Nest lake. "Little Crow" and his followers had 
separated into small parties, in the region of the Coteau 
Des Prairies, and Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall abandoned 
the pursuit, returning about the 21st of October, to " Camp 
Release," which name Colonel Sibley had applied to the 
friendly Indian camp. 

In the mean time, Colonel Sibley had caused a log house 
to be erected in camp for a court house, and had organized 
a military commission to try these Indians, who had 
surrendered themselves, for murder. This commission, 
composed of Colonel Crooks, Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall, 
Captains Grant andBayley, and Lieutenant Olin, progressed 
with their work until they convicted and sentenced to be 
hung three hundred and three, and to imprisonment for life 
eighteen, which were the greater part of all the male pris- 
oners then secured. The finding of the commission was sent 
to Washington for the approval of the President. The 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs remonstrated against the 
execution of the sentence, and the President ratified the 
finding on thirty-eight of the most guilty, who were 
accordingly hung at Camp Lincoln, near Mankato, on the 
26th day of December, 1862. Subsequently two others 
were hung at Fort Snelling. The ill-fated Indians, with 
characteristic decorum, ascended the platform singing their 
death-song, and in one long line, holding each other by the 



260 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

hand, they were sent to their final hunting-grounds, the 
Indian's elysium. The balance of the prisoners were kept 
under a strong military guard, to protect them from the 
repeated attempts of the mob to murder them; and on the 
opening of navigation the following spring, they were sent 
to Davenport. 

The balance of the Sioux, being mostly women and chil- 
dren, about fifteen hundred, were shipped by steamer in 
May, 1863, to Crow creek, about one hundred miles above 
Fort Randall, on the Missouri river, where they were depos- 
ited, surrounded by a stockade fort, protected by a military 
force, and fed and clothed by government. No annuities 
have been paid the Sioux since the outbreak. Our losses 
during the difficulties were estimated by the Indian agent 
at 644 of men, women and children in the several massacres, 
and ninety-three soldiers killed in the various battles. We 
have no estimates of the losses of the Indians. 

On the 29th of May, 1863, "Little Crow," and a party of 
about eighty, visited the British at Fort Garry, on the Red 
River of the north, and asked for assistance. Governor 
Dallas only gave them some provisions, but positively 
refused them ammunition. " Little Crow " complained 
that they were badly treated in the war, for that, while he 
yielded up the white prisoners, the whites had hung the 
Indian prisoners ; and that they then had no alternative but 
to either fight or be hung, unless they could make peace on 
fair terms, which they much desired; and asked the gov- 
ernor to intercede for them. 

But little was accomplished by the military forces in 1865, 
towards subjugating the Sioux. General Sully made a cam- 
paign from Fort Rice to Devil's Lake and Mouse river, and 
returned to Fort Sully by way of Fort Berthol, without 
meeting any considerable number of Indians. At the latter 
fort he heard that the Indians, numbering about 10,000, 
were encamped about fifty miles south-west, but with his 
small force of about 900 he did not deem it prudent to 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 261 

attack them. General Sully, however, reported that bands, 
numbering nearly 3,000 warriors, had made peace with him 
in 1864 and 1865. 

During the summer of 1865 there was a difference of 
opinion between the War and Indian departments, as to the 
question of peace with the Sioux ; but late in August they 
agreed on a joint commission to visit the upper Missouri, 
and conclude a peace, composed of Governor Edmonds, of 
Dakota Territory, Major-General Curtis, Superintendent 
Taylor, General Sibley, Rev. H. W. Reed, and Hon. Orrin 
Guernsey. 

This commission visited the Upper Missouri country, and 
made treaties of peace with the following bands of the 
Sioux; Two Kettles, or Teton, Lower Brule, Oncpapas, 
Minneconjous, Yanktonais, Sans Arcs, Upper Yanktonais, 
Ogallallas, and Black Feet. These bands were estimated 
at 16,020 souls. These treaties were ratified and proclaimed 
at Washington, March 17, 1866, and provide for a right of 
way through their country, and allow any of their people to 
become agriculturalists. Treaties were also made with the 
Assiniboins and Crows, securing the right of transit and 
small cessions of land, including Fort Union. 

The Peace Commissioners having recommended that the 
Sioux of Crow creek be removed to a new reservation, 
Superintendent Taylor selected six townships at the mouth 
of the Niobrara river, in Nebraska, for the new reservation, 
and in June, 1866, the Indians of Crow creek, and the 
Davenport prisoners, were settled upon the new reservation ; 
those prisoners having been pardoned by the President on 
the recommendation of their missionary and the war 
authorities. 

A portion of the Christian Indians, who had rendered 
special service to the whites at the massacre, and afterwards 
acted as scouts to the troops, still occupied the old reserva- 
tion in Minnesota ; " but," said the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, in April, 1866, " many of these men have, for the 



262 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

past three years, been homeless wanderers, and actually 
suffering from want ; a very poor return for services rendered 
to the whites at the risk of their lives." . . . " Action 
was taken by the department about a year ago, to select for 
them eighty acres of land each, upon the old reservation, 
but the feeling among the whites is such as to make it im- 
possible for them to live there in safety." 

These Sioux numbered in 1866, according to their mis- 
sionary, two hundred and fifty, and contained, among others 
of like merit : An-pe-tu-to-ke-cha, or " Other Day," who 
" guided sixty-two missionaries and employees of Yellow 
Medicine and Hazelwood to Shakopee village, near St. 
Paul ;" Taopi, or " Wounded Man," a chief who was " the 
leader in the rescue of two hundred and fifty prisoners ;" 
Paul-maza-ker-ta-mane, who " openly denounced in council 
the hostile Indians, and at all times, at the risk of his life, 
declared his fidelity to" the whites ; To-wante-toma, called 
Lorenzo Lawrence, who " at the risk of his life rescued ten 
white captives, and brought them to Fort Ridgley ;" Simon 
An-ang-mani, who rescued four captives and brought them 
to Fort Ridgley ; Wah-kin-yan-wash-to, or " Good 
Thunder," who assisted " Taopi," and " was threatened 
with death by ' Little Crow ;' " Zoe Ha-pa, a squaw, who 
" at great risk brought provisions to the island where Rev. 
Mr. Riggs and party were secreted." 

There were other inconsistencies among some of the 
people in Minnesota. New Ulm, a village where the mas- 
sacre fell heaviest, was settled by German infidels, who, by 
the papers of the day, were reported as having burnt Jesus 
Christ in effigy, only a few days before the massacre. 
When the 25th regiment Wisconsin volunteers were 
stationed in the village for their protection, the chaplain 
asked for the use of the town hall, in Avhich to have Sabbath 
religious services, there being no church, and was denied ; 
whereupon, Colonel Montgomery marched his regiment into 
the hall, and Rev. T. C. Golden, the Methodist chaplain, 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 263 

preached the first Christian sermon in the village. Some 
of the religious writers of the day placed New Ulm in that 
class of villages which was headed by Sodom, and raised 
the question whether New Ulm was not punished for her 
unrighteousness. 

In the spring of 1866, the Minnesota Sioux petitioned the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs for leave to settle on the 
new reservation at Niobrara, which was granted; but as 
government could not arrange for their removal in time to 
put in a crop, their removal had not taken place in October. 

Another party of Minnesota Sioux, who fled with "Little 
Crow," consisting of about eight hundred and fifty, have 
surrendered to General Sibley, protesting that they took no 
part in the massacre; and the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs has recommended that they be located on a reserva- 
tion near Fort Wardsworth, on the Missouri river. The 
treaty commissioners, however, failed to make any satis- 
factory treaty with them up to September, 1866, and they 
still remained in the region of Fort Wardsworth. 

During all the trials incident to this unfortunate Indian 
war, the powers of the missionaries were brought in requi- 
sition to ease the misfortunes of the prisoners and persecuted 
friendly Sioux; and during 1866, Rev. Mr. Hinman and 
Bishop Whipple attended to the interest of those in Minne- 
sota, Rev. John P. Williamson, at Crow creek and 
Niobrara, while Rev. Mr. Riggs had attended on the 
prisoners at Davenport the most of the time during their 
confinement. 

The Yankton band, during the war, gave no aid or com- 
fort to their brothers in arms, and in 1866 cultivated over 
1,000 acres of corn, on their reservation on the Missouri 
river. According to the agent's report, October 1st, 1866, 
they were " peaceable, contented, and to a limited degree 
industrious." There are neither schools or missionaries 
among the Yanktons, or any other of the ten bands of 
Sioux in Dakota territory. 



264 tJrPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Those of the Minnesota Sioux who continued hostile to 
government in 1866, are reported to be in the region of 
Fort Garry, in the British possessions. 

In the spring of 1867, General Sherman organized a strong 
military force against the hostile Indians, and the war, it is 
hoped, will close with a satisfactory peace during the 
summer. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 



This tribe call themselves Ojibwa, or Leapers, contracting 
the name from people at the leaping water, or falls ; hence 
the French called them Saulteurs, and the Sioux, Hah-hah- 
ton-wah. The English traders corrupted the word to Chip- 
peways, which is the modern pronunciation in the north- 
west. This was originally ^a small band of Algonquins, 
found at the falls at the outlet of Lake Superior in 1641, by 
the Jesuit missionaries. 

When the brave Iroquois had swept the confederate 
nations from Lake Huron, and with 3,000 warriors had 
stormed the fortified heights of Mackinaw island, the fugi- 
tive nations divided, and part fled to Green Bay, while the 
balance took shelter in the thick pines of the south shore of 
Lake Superior. The latter were pursued, and, according 
to Chippeway tradition, another battle was fought at JVctdo- 
wegoning, or place of Iroquois bones, now believed to be 
Whitefish Point, at which the Chippeways claimed a com- 
plete victory. This was probably about 1652, as the follow 
ing year the Iroquois were known to be fully engaged in a 
new war with the Eries near Buffalo, New York. 

But this victory is very doubtful, as the confederate 
nations continued their flight, and in 1660 a small part of 
them were found at Kewenaw bay ; and the greater part at 
the west end of Lake Superior, in 1665, where they remained 
until they were driven out by the Sioux in the spring of 
17* 



266 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

1671, and after the peace made by the French with the 
Iroquois in 1666. 

About this time the Christinaux, or Kilistinons, an 
Algonquin nation inhabiting the country between Lake 
Superior and Hudson's bay, having obtained arms of the 
English traders at the latter bay, according to French 
authority, attacked the Sioux on the north, and thereby 
became allies with the Chippeways, in a war against the 
Sioux. This war continued until 1679, when Captain De 
Lut visited the head of Lake Superior, took possession of 
the country in the name of the King of France, and made 
peace between the northern nations and the Assiniboins, the 
great northern band of the Sioux, without consulting the 
other bands of the Sioux Confederacy. 

This gave offence to the southern bands, but as they were 
engaged in the war with the Sacs and Foxes, and other 
tribes of fugitive Algonquin nations of southern Wisconsin 
and Illinois, they did not appear to have specially continued 
the war at the north at that time ; but subsequently, some of 
the southern Sioux visiting the northern band of Assiniboins, 
found among them some of the Kilistinons, and killed them 
as enemies. This caused a renewal of the war in 1700, in 
which the Assiniboins joined the northern nations against 
their own confederacy, the Chippeways uniting with the 
Kilistinons. 

The brave Dakotas of the south, as skillful in diplomacy 
as in war, negotiated a peace with the Sacs, Foxes, Winne- 
bagoes, and other nations of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, 
and in 1702 engaged them to take up arms against the 
northern alliance. This new combination greatly disgusted 
the French, as they were using every art in their power to 
array all the northern nations against the English colonies. 
They scolded and threatened the Foxes, as the principal 
offenders, and in 1712 entrapped and massacred a hunting 
party of nearly 1,000 men, .women and children, of the 
Foxes and Mascotens at Detroit. This war continued for 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 267 

fifty-two years, the French giving their influence for the 
northern alliance, and twice sending armies from Canada 
against the Foxes and other nations in southern Wisconsin. 
Finally, the necessities of the French increasing by the por- 
tentous struggle of 1755, they succeeded the previous year 
in drawing off the Sacs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, and other 
southern Wisconsin Indians from their Sioux alliance, and 
engaged them in the great war against the English. The 
Sioux, however, could never be coaxed into this latter war. 

After the fall of Canada, the Sacs and Foxes renewed 
their war against the Illinois, who had long been allies of 
the French against them, and extended their conquests into 
the present State of Iowa ; while the Chippeways of the 
north renewed their war against the Dakotas, which has 
continued at intervals until the present time. Thus the 
insignificant band of Ojibwas, by the aid of the French and 
their continued alliances with the Algonquins, or as called by 
the Iroquois, the Adirondacks, or bark-eaters, have become 
the mighty confederacy of Chippeways, and have conquered 
from the Dakotas all northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

Various treaties were made with the Chippeways and 
Ottawas of Michigan, ceding lands to the United States, in 
the States of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan ; but the first 
treaty of any importance reaching to Lake Superior, was 
that of the 28th of March, 1836. By this treaty, those tribes 
ceded all the country from Grand river, Michigan, north to 
Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and west to the Chocolate 
river of Lake Superior, and Skonawba river of Green Bay, 
making, however, several large reservations. 

The next important treaty with the Chippeways, was that 
of July 29, 1837, by which they ceded a large tract of land 
in the then territory of Wisconsin, described in the treaty 
as follows : 

" Beginning at the junction of the Crow Wing and Mis- 
sissippi rivers, between twenty and thirty miles above where 
the Mississippi is crossed by the forty-sixth parallel of north 



268 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

latitude, and running thence to the north point of Lake St. 
Croix, one of the sources of the St. Croix river ; thence to 
and along the dividing ridge between the waters of Lake 
Superior and those of the Mississippi, to the sources of the 
Ocha-sau-sepe, a tributary of the Chippewa river ; thence 
to a point on the Chippewa river, twenty miles below the 
outlet of Lake De Flambeau; thence to the junction of the 
Wisconsin and Pelican rivers ; thence on an east course 
twenty-five miles ; thence southerly, on a course parallel 
with that of the Wisconsin river, to the line dividing the 
territories of the Chippeways and Menominies ; thence to 
the Plover portage ; thence along the southern boundary of 
the Chippewa country, to the commencement of the boun- 
dary line dividing it from that of the Sioux, half a day's 
march below the falls on the Chippewa river ; thence with 
said boundary line to the mouth of Wah-tap river, at its 
junction with the Mississippi ; and thence up the Mississippi 
to the place of beginning." 

In the second article of the treaty it was provided that, 
" In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the United 
States agree to make to the Chippeway nation, annually, 
for the term of twenty years, from the date of the ratifica- 
tion of this treaty, the following payments : 

1. Nine thousand five hundred dollars, to be paid in 
money. 

2. Nineteen thousand dollars, to be delivered in goods. 

3. Three thousand dollars for establishing three black- 
smiths' shops, supporting the blacksmiths, and furnishing 
them with iron and steel. 

4. One thousand dollars for farmers, and for supplying 
them and the Indians with implements of labor, with grain 
or seed, and whatever else may be necessary to enable them 
to carry on their agricultural pursuits. 

5. Two thousand dollars in provisions. 

6. Five hundred dollars in tobacco. 

The third article of the treaty provided that " The sum 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 269 

of one hundred thousand dollars shall be paid to the half- 
breeds » by the United States; and the fourth article 
required the additional sum of $70,000, to "be applied to 
the payment by the United States, of certain claims against 
the Indians " by the traders. 

By the treaty of October 4, 1842, all the northern portion 
ol Wisconsin was ceded to the United States, by the fol- 
lowing boundaries : 

"Beginning at the mouth of Chocolate river of Lake 
Superior; thence north-westwardly across said lake to inter- 
sect the boundary line between the United States and the 
province of Canada; thence up said Lake Superior to the 
mouth of the St. Louis, or Fond Du Lac river (including all 
the islands in said lake) ; thence up said river to the Ameri- 
can Fur Company's trading-post, at the southwardly bend 
thereof, about twenty-two miles from its mouth; thence 
south, to intersect the line of the treaty of 29th July 1837 
with the Chippeways of the Mississippi; thence along said 
lake to its south-eastwardly extremity, near the Plover 
portage on the Wisconsin river ; thence north-eastwardly 
along the boundary line between the Chippeways and Men- 
ominies, to its eastern termination, on the Skanawba river 
of Green Bay ; thence northwardly to the source of Choco- 
late river ; thence down said river to its mouth, the place of 
be^inninor " 

By Article IV., of the same treaty, it was provided : " In 
consideration of the foregoing cession, the United States 
engage to pay to the Chippeway Indians of the Mississippi 
and Lake Superior, annually, for twenty-five years, $12 500 
in specie, $10,500 in goods, $2,000 in provisions and tobacco 
$2,000 for the support of two blacksmiths' shops (including 
pay of smiths, asssistants, and iron, steel, etc.), $1,000 for 
pay of two farmers, $1,200 for pay of two carpenters, and 
$2,000 for the support of schools for the Indians parties to 
this treaty; and further, the United States engage to pay 
the sum of $5,000 as an agricultural fund, to be°expended 



270 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

under the direction of the Secretary of War. And also the 
sum of $75,000 shall be allowed for the full satisfaction of 
their debts within the ceded district." Also, the United 
States paid $15,000 for the half-breeds of the tribe. 

The next treaty with the Chippeways was made at Fond 
Du Lac, of Lake Superior, August 2, 1847, by which they 
ceded the following tract : 

"Beginning at the junction of the Crow Wing and 
Mississippi rivers ; thence up the Crow Wing river to the 
junction of that river with the Long Prairie river; thence 
up the Long Prairie river to the boundary line between the 
Sioux and Chippeway Indians; thence southerly along said 
boundary line to a lake at the head of Long Prairie river; 
thence in a direct line to the sources of the Watab river; 
thence down the Watab to the Mississippi river; thence up 
the Mississippi to the place of beginning; and also all the 
interest and claim which the Indians, parties to this treaty, 
have in a tract of land lying upon and north of Long 
Prairie river, and called < One-day's Hunt.' " 

For this cession, the United States paid the chiefs of the 
Lake Superior bands $17,000, and the same to the Missis- 
sippi bands of Chippeways ; and agreed to pay to the latter 
bands $1,000 annually for forty-six years. 

The foregoing tract of country was purchased by the 
United States with the view of locating thereon the Winne- 
bagoes and Menominies, but these tribes disliking the tract, 
subsequently exchanged for other lands. 

The most of the Chippeways of Lake Superior being 
unwilling to remove from the lands which they had ceded 
by the treaty of 1842, a new treaty was made September 30, 
1854, by which those bands ceded to the United States 
certain additional lands, and received back the reservations 
at the places of their residence, with other provisions as 

follows : 

"Article I. The Chippeways of Lake Superior hereby 
cede to the United States all the lands heretofore owned by 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 271 

them in common with the Chippeways of the Mississippi, 
lying east of the following boundary line, to wit : Begin- 
ning at a point where the east branch of Snake river crosses 
the southern boundary line of the Chippewa country, run- 
ning thence up the said branch to its source ; thence nearly 
north, in a straight line, to the mouth of East Savannah 
river; thence up the St. Louis river to the mouth of East 
Swan river ; thence up the East Swan river to its source ; 
thence in a straight line to the most westerly bend of Ver- 
million river ; and thence down the Vermillion river to its 
mouth. 

" The Chippeways of the Mississippi hereby assent and 
agree to the foregoing cession, and consent that the whole 
amount of the consideration money for the country ceded 
above, shall be paid to the Chippeways of Lake Superior ; 
and in consideration thereof, the Chippeways of Lake 
Superior hereby relinquish to the Chippeways of the Mis- 
sissippi, all their interest in and claim to the lands hereto- 
fore owned by them in common, lying west of the above 
boundary line. 

"Article II. The United States agree to set apart and 
withhold from sale, for the use of the Chippeways of Lake 
Superior, the following described tracts of land : namely, 

" 1st. For the L'Anse and Vieux De Sert bands, all the 
unsold lands in the following townships in the State of 
Michigan : Township fifty-one north, range thirty-three 
west ; township fifty-one, north, range thirty-two west ; the 
east half of township fifty, north, range thirty-three west ; 
the west half of township fifty, north, range thirty-two 
west ; and all of township fifty-one, north, range thirty-one 
west, lying west of Huron bay. 

" 2nd. For the La Point band, and such other Indians as 
may see fit to settle with them, a tract of land bounded as 
follows : Beginning on the south shore of Lake Superior, 
a few miles west of Montreal river, at the mouth of a creek 
called by the Indians Ke-che-se-be-we-she, running thence 



272 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

south to a line drawn east and west through the center of 
township forty-seven north ; thence west to the west line of 
said township ; thence south, to the south-east corner of 
township forty-six, north, range thirty-two, west; thence 
west the width of two townships ; thence north the width 
of two townships ; thence west one mile ; thence north to 
the lake shore ; thence along the lake shore, crossing Shag- 
waw-nie-quon point, to the place of beginning. Also, two 
hundred acres on the northern extremity of Madeline island, 
for a fishing ground. 

" 3rd. For the other Wisconsin bands, a tract of land 
lying about Lac De Flambeau, and another tract on Lac 
Court Orielles, each equal in extent to three townships, the 
boundaries of which shall be hereafter agreed upon, or fixed, 
under the direction of the President. 

" 4th. For the Fond Du Lac bands, a tract of land 
bounded as follows : Beginning at an island in the St. 
Louis river, above Knife portage, called by the Indians 
Paw-paw-sco-me-me-tig ; running thence west to the boun- 
dary line heretofore prescribed; thence north along said 
boundary line to the mouth of Savannah river ; thence down 
the St. Louis river to the place of beginning. And if the 
said tract shall contain less than one hundred thousand 
acres, a strip of land shall be added on the south thereof, 
large enough to equal such deficiency. 

" 5th. For the Grand Portage band, a tract of land 
bounded as follows : Beginning at a rock a little east of the 
eastern extremity of Grand Portage bay ; running thence 
along the lake shore to the mouth of a small stream called 
by the Indians Maw-ske-gwaw-caw-maw-se-be, or Cranberry 
Marsh river; thenee up said stream, across the point to 
Pigeon river ; thence down Pigeon river to a point opposite 
the starting-point ; and thence across to the place of begin- 
ning. 

" 6th. The Ontonagon band, and that subdivision of the 
La Point band of which 'Buffalo' is chief, may each select 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 273 

on or near the lake shore, four sections .of land, under the 
direction of the President, the boundaries of which shall he 
defined hereafter. And being desirous to provide for some 
of his connections who have rendered his people important 
services, it is agreed that the chief, * Buffalo,' may select one 
section of land, at such place in the ceded territory as he 
may see fit, which shall be reserved for that purpose, and 
conveyed by the United States to such person or persons as 
he may direct. 

" 7th. Each head of a family, or single person over 
twenty-one years of age at the present time, of the mixed 
bloods, belonging to the Chippeways of Lake Superior, 
shall be entitled to eighty acres of land, to be selected by 
them, under the direction of the President, and which shall 
be secured to them by patent in the usual form." 

This treaty having been made with a view to the civiliza- 
tion of the Indians on the foregoing reservations, the United 
States further provided for defining the boundaries of said 
reservations, and for surveying and distributing to each 
person over twenty-one years of age, eighty acres of the 
land in severalty ; and that missionaries, teachers, and other 
persons residing with the Indians, might enter their lands 
to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres each. 

The Bois Forte Indians were given the right to select 
their reservations in proportion to their numbers, to the 
same extent as other bands. 

Spirituous liquors were prohibited from manufacture, sale, 
or use on the reservations. 

The United States paid for said cession, in addition 
to said reservations, annually for twenty years, $5,000 in 
coin, $8,000 in goods, $3,000 in agricultural implements, 
cattle, and building materials, and $3,000 for moral and 
educational purposes. Also $90,000 to pay their debts, and 
$6,000 for agricultural implements, household furniture, and 
cooking utensils, to the half-breeds ; and furnished the 
Indians 200 guns, 100 rifles, 500 beaver traps, $300 worth 
18 



274 upper Mississippi. 

of ammunition, and $1,000 "worth of ready-made clothing, 
to be distributed among the young men of the nation, at the 
next annuity payment." 

The United States also, in lieu of previous engagements 
of the kind, agreed to furnish a blacksmith and assistant, 
with the usual amount of stock, during the continuance of 
the annuities, for each of said reservations. In addition, 
the United States agreed to pay the Bois Forte Indians 
$10,000 to pay their debts, and $2,000 annually for five 
years, in goods. 

The treaty made February 22nd, 1855, at Washington, 
between the United States and the Mississippi, Pillager, and 
Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Chippeways, was probably 
the most important of any, touching the civilization of these 
bands, and we therefore copy the first three articles in full, 
as follows : 

"Article I. The Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winni- 
bigoshish bands of Chippeway Indians hereby cede, sell, 
and convey to the United States all their right, title, and 
interest in, and to, the lands now owned and claimed by 
them, in the Territory of Minnesota, and included within 
the following boundaries, namely : beginning at a point 
where the east branch of Snake river crosses the southern 
boundary line of the Chippeway country, east of the Mis- 
sissippi river, as established by the treaty of July 29th, 1837, 
running thence, up the said branch, to its source ; thence, 
nearly north in a straight line, to the mouth of East Savan- 
nah river ; thence, up the St. Louis river, to the mouth of 
East Swan river ; thence, up said river, to its source ; thence, 
in a straight line, to the most westwardly bend of Vermil- 
lion river; thence, north-westwardly, in a straight line, to 
the first and most considerable bend in the Big Fork river ; 
thence, down said river, to its mouth ; thence, down Rainy 
Lake river, to the mouth of Black river; thence, up that 
river, to its source ; thence, in a straight line, to the northern 
extremity of Turtle lake ; thence, in a straight line, to the 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 275 

mouth of Wild Rice river; thence, up Red river of the 
north, to the mouth of Buffalo river ; thence, in a straight 
line, to the south-western extremity of Otter Tail lake; 
thence, through said lake, to the source of Leaf river; 
thence, down said river, to its junction with Crow Wing 
river ; thence, down Crow Wing river, to its junction with 
the Mississippi river; thence, to the commencement on said 
river of the southern boundary line of the Chippeway coun- 
try, as established by the treaty of July 29th, 1837 ; and 
thence, along said line, to the place of beginning. And the 
said Indians do further fully and entirely relinquish and 
convey to the United States, any and all right, title, and 
interest, of whatsoever nature the same may be, which they 
may now have in and to any other lands in the Territory 
of Minnesota or elsewhere. 

"Article II. There shall be, and hereby is, reserved and 
set apart, a sufficient quantity of land for the permanent 
homes of the said Indians ; the lands so reserved and set 
apart to be in separate tracts, as follows, namely : 

" For the Mississippi bands of Chippeway Indians : The 
first to embrace the following fractional townships, namely : 
forty-two north of range twenty-five west ; forty-two north 
of range twenty-six west; and forty-two and forty-three 
north of range twenty-seven west; and, also, the three 
islands in the southern part of Mille Lac. Second, begin- 
ning at a point half a mile east of Rabbit lake ; thence, 
south three miles ; thence, westwardly in a straight line, to 
a point three miles south of the mouth of Rabbit river ; 
thence, north to the mouth of said river; thence, up the 
Mississippi river, to a point directly north of the place of 
beginning ; thence, south to the place of beginning. Third, 
beginning at a point half a mile south-west from the most 
south-westwardly point of Gull lake ; thence, due south to 
Crow Wing river; thence, down said river, to the Missis- 
sippi river; thence, up said river, to Long Lake portage; 
thence, in a straight line, to the head of Gull lake ; thence, 



276 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

f 

in a south-westwardly direction, as nearly in a direct line as 
practicable, but at no point thereof, at a less distance than 
half a mile from said lake, to the place of beginning. 
Fourth, the boundaries to be, as nearly as practicable, at 
right angles, and so as to embrace within them Pokagomon 
lake ; but no where to approach nearer said lake than half a 
mile therefrom. Fifth, beginning at the mouth of Sandy 
Lake river ; thence, south to a point on an east and west 
line, two miles south of the most southern point of Sandy 
lake ; thence, east to a point due south from the mouth of 
West Savannah river ; thence, north to the mouth of said 
river ; thence, north to a point on an east and west line, one 
mile north of the most northern point of Sandy lake ; thence, 
west to Little Rice river ; thence, down said river to Sandy 
Lake river ; and thence, down said river to the place of 
beginning. Sixth, to include all the islands in Rice lake, 
and also half a section of land on said lake, to include the 
present gardens of the Indians. Seventh, one section of 
land for Pug-o-na-ke-shick, or ' Hole in the Day,' to include 
his house and farm ; and for which he shall receive a patent 
in fee simple. 

" For the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands, to be 
in three tracts, to be located and bounded as follows, 
namely: first, beginning at the mouth of Little Boy river; 
thence, up said river to Lake Hassler ; thence, through the 
center of said lake, to its western extremity ; thence, in a 
direct line, to the most southern point of Leech lake ; and 
thence, through said lake, so as to include all the islands 
therein, to the place of beginning. Second, beginning at 
the point where the Mississippi river leaves Lake Winni- 
bigoshish; thence, north to the head of the first river; 
thence, west by the head of the next river, to the head of 
the third river, emptying into said lake; thence, down 
the latter to said lake ; and thence, in a direct line to 
the place of beginning. Third, beginning at the mouth of 
Turtle river ; thence, up said river to the first lake ; thence, 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 27*7 

east four miles ; thence, southwardly in a line parallel with 
Turtle river, to Cass lake ; and thence, so as to include all 
the islands in said lake, to the place of beginning; all of 
which said tracts shall be distinctly designated on the plats 
of the public surveys. And at such time or times, as the 
President may deem it advisable for the interests and wel- 
fare of said Indians, or any of them, he shall cause the said 
reservations, or such portion or portions thereof, as may be 
necessary, to be surveyed ; and assign to each head of a 
family, or single person over twenty-one years of age, a 
reasonable quantity of land, in one body, not to exceed 
eighty acres in any case, for his or their separate use ; and 
he may, at his discretion, as the occupants thereof become 
capable of managing their business and affairs, issue patents 
to them for the tracts so assigned to them respectively ; said 
tracts to be exempt from taxation, levy, sale, or forfeiture ; 
and not to be aliened or leased for a longer period than two 
years, at one time, until otherwise provided by the legisla- 
ture of the State in which they may be situate, with the 
assent of Congress. They shall not be sold, or alienated, in 
fee, for a period of five years after the date of the patents ; 
and not then without the assent of the President of the 
United States being first obtained. Prior to the issue of the 
patents, the President shall make such rules and regulations 
as he may deem necessary and expedient, respecting the 
disposition of any of said tracts in case of the death of the 
person- or persons to whom they may be assigned, so that 
the same shall be secured to the families of such deceased 
persons ; and should any of the Indians to whom tracts may 
be assigned, thereafter abandon them, the President may 
make such rules and regulations, in relation to such aban- 
doned tracts, as in his judgment may be necessary and 
proper. 

"Article III. In consideration of, and in full compensa- 
tion for, the cessions made by the said Mississippi, Pillager, 
and Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Chippeway Indians, in 



278 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the first article of this agreement, the United States hereby 
agree and stipulate to pay, expend, and make provision for, 
the said bands of Indians, as follows : namely, for the Mis- 
sissippi bands, 

"Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in goods, and other 
useful articles, as soon as practicable after the ratification 
of this instrument, and after an appropriation shall be made 
by Congress therefor, to be turned over to the delegates and 
chiefs for distribution among their people. 

"Fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) to enable them to 
adjust and settle their present engagements, so far as the 
same, on an examination thereof, may be found and decided 
to be valid and just by the chiefs, subject to the approval 
of the Secretary of the Interior ; and any balance remaining 
of said sum, not required for the above-mentioned purpose, 
shall be paid over to said Indians in the same manner as 
their annuity money, and in such installments as the said 
Secretary may determine; provided, that an amount not 
exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000) of the above sum 
shall be paid to such full and mixed bloods as the chiefs 
may direct, for services rendered heretofore to their bands. 

" Twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) per annum, in money, 
for twenty years, provided, that two thousand dollars 
($2,000) per annum of that sum, shall be paid or expended, 
as the chiefs may request, for purposes of utility connected 
with the improvement and welfare of said Indians, subject 
to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. 

" Five thousand dollars ($5,000) for the construction of a 
road from the mouth of Rum river to Mille Lac, to be 
expended under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs. 

"A reasonable quantity of land, to be determined by the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to be ploughed and pre- 
pared for cultivation in suitable fields, at each of the 
reservations of the said bands, not exceeding, in the aggre- 
gate, three hundred acres for all the reservations, the 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 279 

Indians to make the rails and enclose the fields themselves. 

" For the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands : 

" Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in goods, and other 
useful articles, as soon as practicable after the ratification 
of this agreement, and an appropriation shall be made by 
Congress therefor ; to be turned over to the chiefs and dele- 
gates for distribution among their people. 

"Forty thousand dollars ($40,000), to enable them to 
adjust and settle their present engagements, so far as the 
same, on an examination thereof, may be found and decided 
to be valid and just by the chiefs, subject to the approval 
of the Secretary of the Interior; and any balance remaining 
of said sum, not required for that purpose, shall be paid 
over to said Indians, in the same manner as their annuity 
money, and in such installments as the said Secretary may 
determine; provided that an amount, not exceeding ten 
thousand dollars ($10,000), of the above sum, shall be paid 
to such mixed bloods as the chiefs may direct, for services 
heretofore rendered to their bands. 

" Ten thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and 
sixty-six cents ($10,666.66) per annum, in money, for thirty 
years. 

"Eight thousand dollars ($8,000) per annum, for thirty 
years, in such goods as may be requested by the chiefs, and 
as may be suitable for the Indians, according to their con- 
dition and circumstances. 

" Four thousand dollars ($4,000) per annum, for thirty 
years, to be paid or expended, as the chiefs may request, 
for purposes of utility connected with the improvement and 
welfare of said Indians; subject to the approval of the 
Secretary of the Interior. Provided^ That an amount, not 
exceeding two thousand dollars thereof, shall, for a limited 
number of years, be expended under the direction of the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for provisions, seeds and 
such other articles or things as maybe useful in agricultural 
pursuits. 



280 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

" Such sura as can be usefully and beneficially applied by 
the United States, annually, for twenty years, and not to 
exceed three thousand dollars in any one year, for purposes 
of education ; to be expended under the direction of the 
Secretary of the Interior. 

"Three hundred dollars' ($300) worth of powder, per 
annum, for five years. 

" One hundred dollars' ($100) worth of shot and lead, 
per annum, for five years. 

"One hundred dollars' ($100) worth of gilling twine, per 
annum, for five years. 

"One hundred dollars' ($100) worth of tobacco, per 
annum, for five years. 

" Hire of three laborers at Leech Lake, of two at Lake 
Winnibigoshish, and of one at Cass lake, for five years. 

" Expense of two blacksmiths, with the necessary shop, 
iron, steel and tools, for fifteen years. 

" Two hundred dollars ($200) in grubbing hoes and tools, 
the present year. 

"Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) for opening a road 
from Crow Wing to Leech Lake ; to be expended under the 
direction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 

"To have ploughed and prepared for cultivation, two 
hundred acres of land, in ten or more lots, within the reser- 
vation at Leech lake; fifty acres, in four or more lots, 
within the reservation at Lake Winnibigoshish; and twenty- 
live acres, in two or more lots, within the reservation at 
Cass lake : Provided, That the Indians shall make the rails 
and enclose the lots themselves. 

"A saw-mill, with a portable grist-mill attached thereto, 
to be established whenever the same shall be deemed neces- 
sary and advisable by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
at such point as he shall think best ; and which, together 
with the expense of a proper person to take charge of and 
operate them, shall be continued during ten years: Pro- 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 281 

vided, That the cost of all the requisite repairs of the said 
mills shall be paid by the Indians, out of their own funds." 

The revolt of the Sioux, and the massacre of several 
hundred whites by those savages, spread through the 
country like an electric shock. " Hole-in-the-day," the head 
chief of the Mississippi Chippeways, with a few of his 
warriors, immediately commenced stealing and killing the 
cattle about the Indian agency and Fort Ripley. Agent 
Walker fled to the fort, and directed the arrest of " Hole-im 
the-day," but that chief retreated across the river with his 
family, when pursued by troops, and then fired back upon 
his pursuers, and shots were exchanged. Agent Walker 
set out for St. Paul, but laboring under the excitement of 
the occasion, he committed suicide on the way. 

Commissioner Dole, of Washington, then at St. Paul, on 
his way to Red river, obtained two companies of volunteers 
from Governor Ramsey, and immediately set out for Fort 
Ripley. He reached that point, and held several councils 
with " Hole-in-the-day" and other chiefs of the bands, but with 
no definite result. Mr. Dole, in the mean time, persuaded 
the Mille Lac and some other bands to abandon " Hole-in-the- 
day," and thereby diminished that chief's strength one half. 
He then left for St. Paul. The Indians held a council, and 
although many chiefs were for peace, they came to no 
decision. Those favorable to peace went to the fort, sur- 
rendered the stolen property, received rations, and left for 
home. " Hole-in-the-day," having thus lost more than half 
of his warriors, soon after followed their example, restored 
his plunder, and delivered his war-club as a token of peace. 

In the mean time, the legislature of Minnesota appointed 
commissioners to visit " Hole-in-the-day" and make a treaty. 
Judge Cooper, the attorney of the chief, was placed at the 
head of the commission. They concluded a treaty, but 
government refused to ratify it, and the treaty of 1863 was 
the consequence. The depredations of this outbreak were 
not extensive, and were settled under the treaty last named. 
18* 



282 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

" Hole-in-the-day," with some forty of his principal chiefs 
and warriors, visited St. Paul soon after, and offered the 
whole force of his tribe to General Pope, to go against the 
Sioux, but their services were refused. ' Had they been 
accepted, they would have made valuable scouts against 
their old enemy, and might have been the means of having 
given success to the first expedition of General Sibley. It 
was arming tribe against tribe that gave the first success to 
the English arms in the Pontiac conspiracy; and the ani- 
mosity of two hundred years might well have spent itself 
against the merciless Sioux. 

By the treaty of March 11th, 1863, with the Chippeways 
of the Mississippi and the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish 
bands of Chippeways, they relinquish their reservations at 
Gull lake, Mille Lac, Sandy lake, Rabbit lake, Pokagomin 
lake, and Rice lake, and agree to accept, " for the future 
homes of the Chippeways of the Mississippi, all the lands 
embraced within the following described boundaries, except 
the reservations made and described in the third clause of 
the second article of the said treaty of February 22nd, 1855, 
for the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands ; that is to 
say, beginning at a point one mile south of the most south- 
erly point of Leech lake, and running thence in an easterly 
course to a point one mile south of the most southerly point 
of Goose lake ; thence due east to a point due south from 
the intersection of the Pokagomin reservation and the Mis- 
sissippi river ; thence on the dividing line between ' Deer 
River lakes' and Mashkorden's river and lakes until a point 
is reached north of the first named river and lakes ; thence 
in a direct line north-westerly to the outlet of ' Two Routes 
lake;' thence in a south-westerly direction to the north- 
west corner of the Cass Lake reservation ; thence in a south- 
westerly direction to Karbekaun river ; thence down said 
river to the lake of the same name; thence due south to a 
point due west from the beginning ; thence to the place of 
beginning." 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 288 

By article third it is further provided : " In considera- 
tion of the foregoing cession to the United States, and the 
valuable improvements thereon, the United States further 
agree : 

" 1st. To extend the present annuities of the Indians, 
parties to this treaty, for ten years beyond the periods respec- 
tively named in existing treaties. 

" 2nd. And to pay towards the settlement of the claims 
for depredations committed by said Indians in 1862, the 
sum of $30,000. 

" 3rd. To enable said Indians to pay their present just 
engagements, the sum of $30,000, as the chiefs in council 
may direct. 

" 4th. To the chiefs of the Chippeways of the Mississippi, 
$16,000, (provided they shall pay to the chiefs of the 
Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands, $1,000,) to be paid 
upon the signing of this treaty, out of the arrearages due 
under the ninth article of the treaty concluded at La Point, 
in the State of Wisconsin, on the 30th of September, 1854. 

" 5th. And to pay the expenses incurred by the legislature 
of the State of Minnesota, in the month of September, 1862, 
in sending commissioners to visit the Chippeway Indians, 
amounting to $1,338.75." 

By the fourth article of the same treaty, " the United States 
further agree to clear, stump, grub, and break in the reser- 
vation hereby set apart for the Chippeways of the Missis- 
sippi, in lots of not less than ten acres each, at such point 
or points as the chiefs of each band may select, as follows, 
viz. : For the Gull Lake band, seventy acres ; for the Mille 
Lac band, seventy acres ; for the Sandy Lake band, fifty 
acres ; for the Pokagomin band, fifty acres ; for the Rabbit 
Lake band, forty acres ; for the Rice Lake band, twenty 
acres ; and to build for the chiefs of said bands one house 
each, of the following descriptions : to be constructed of 
hewn logs; to be sixteen by twenty feet each, and two 
stories high ; to be roofed with good shaved pine shingles ; 



284 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the floors to be of seasoned pine plank, jointed; stone or 
brick fire-places and chimneys; three windows in lower 
story, and two in the upper story, with good, substantial 
shutters to each, and suitable doors; said houses to be 
pointed with lime mortar." 

By article fifth it is further provided, that " the United 
States agree to furnish to said Indians, parties to this 
treaty, ten yokes of good, steady, work oxen, and twenty log 
chains, annually, for ten years, provided the Indians shall 
take proper care of, and make proper use of the same; also, 
for the same period, annually, two hundred grubbing hoes, 
ten ploughs, ten grind stones, one hundred axes, handled, 
not to exceed in weight three and one half pounds each ; 
twenty spades. Also, two carpenters, and two blacksmiths, 
and four farm laborers, and one physician." 

In addition to the foregoing, there were several other 
provisions tending* to promote agriculture and education, 
and otherwise to aid the Indians in the advancement of 
civilization. 

The Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippeways not 
having joined in the foregoing treaty, a treaty was made 
with them, October 2nd, 1863, by which those bands ceded 
to the United States all their rights to the territory within 
the following boundaries : " Beginning at the point where 
the international boundary between the United States and 
the British possessions intersects the shore of the Lake of 
the Woods ; thence in a direct line south-westwardly to the 
head of Thief river ; thence down the main channel of said 
Thief river to its mouth on the Red Lake river ; thence in 
a south-easterly direction, in a direct line towards the head 
of Wild Rice river, to the point where such line would 
intersect the north-western boundary of a tract ceded to the 
United States by a treaty concluded at Washington on the 
22nd day of February, in the year 1855, with the Missis- 
sippi, Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish band of Chippe- 
way Indians ; thence along the said boundary line of said 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 285 

cession to the mouth of Wild Rice river ; thence up the 
main channel of the Red river to the mouth of the Shayenne ; 
thence up the main channel of the Shayenne river to Poplar 
Grove ; thence in a direct line to the ' Place of Stumps,' 
otherwise called Lake Chicot ; thence in a direct line to the 
head of the main branch of Salt river; thence in a direct 
line due north to the point where such line would intersect 
the international boundary aforesaid ; thence eastwardly 
along said boundary to the place of beginning." 

As the price of the said purchase, the United States 
agreed to pay $20,000 per annum for twenty years, and 
$100,000, out of which the Indians were to pay their debts, 
together for damages for depredations committed on the 
whites. 

This treaty was amended by the Senate, by striking out 
the annuity, and providing that " the United States will 
pay annually, during the pleasure of the President of the 
United States, to the Red Lake band of Chippeways, the 
sum of $10,000, and to the Pembina band $5,000." Also, 
expend annually, for fifteen years, for the Red Lake band, in 
goods, $8,000, and same for the Pembina band, $4,000 ; and 
furnish said bands, for a like period, one blacksmith, one 
physician, one miller, one farmer, and pay them annually, 
for the like period, $1,500 worth of iron, steel, and other 
articles for blacksmithing purposes, and $1,000 for carpen- 
tering and other purposes ; also, " one saw-mill, with a run 
of mill-stones attached." 

A new treaty was made with the Chippeways of the Mis- 
sissippi, May 7th, 1864, by which the President was to select 
locations for the different bands on their reservation, on the 
extreme upper Mississippi. With this point in view, agent 
Clark visited the upper country in the summer of 1865, 
and on his return recommended to the Indian department 
" to contract for the clearing, stumping, grubbing, breaking, 
and planting, except planting in lots of not less than ten 
acres, provided the cost shall not exceed twenty-five dollars 



286 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

per acre, as follows : For the Gull Lake band, twenty acres 
at Leech lake ; for the Rice Lake band, twenty acres at 
Long lake ; for the Pokegama band, fifty acres at Oak 
Point ; for the Rabbit band, forty acres at Lake Winnipeg ; 
for the Sandy band, twenty-five acres at Lake Winnipeg ; 
for the Sandy band, twenty-five acres at Oak Point." The 
agent also recommended that the new agency buildings be 
located at Leech lake, to consist of u one dwelling for the 
agent, one for the physician, two for carpenters, two for the 
blacksmiths, two for the farmers, one for the interpreter, 
one for the engineer; one school-house, two warehouses, 
one blacksmith's shop, one carpenter's shop, and two stables ; 
all of which buildings, except shops and stables, to be 
inclosed on three sides with good, substantial stockades : 
provided the entire cost of buildings and stockade shall not 
exceed $25,000, as per fourth article, treaty 7th May, 1864." 

The discovery of gold in 1865, near the Indian reservation 
at Lake Vermillion, and the advent of the gold-seekers 
upon Indian territory, forced the United States and the Bois 
Forte band of the Chippeways to make another treaty, and 
the following were the first articles of the treaty concluded 
at Washington, D. C, in April, 1866, which was soon after 
ratified by the Senate, and published by the President : 

"Article I. The peace and friendship now existing 
between the .United States and said Bois Forte bands of 
Indians shall be perpetual. 

" Article II. In consideration of the agreements, stipu- 
lations, and undertakings to be performed by the United 
States, and hereinafter expressed, the Bois Forte bands of 
Chippeways have agreed to, and do hereby, cede and for 
ever relinquish and surrender to the United States, all their 
right, title, claim and interest in and to all lands and terri- 
tory heretofore claimed, held, or possessed by them, and 
lying east of the boundary line mentioned and established 
in and by the first article of the treaty made and concluded 
by and between the United States of the one part, and the 



THE OJIBWA CONFEDERACY. 28Y 

Chippeways of Lake Superior and the Mississippi of the 
other part, on the 30th day of September, A. D. 1854, and 
more especially in and to all that portion of said territory 
heretofore claimed and occupied by them at and near Lake 
Vermillion as a reservation. The Bois Forte band of Chip- 
peways in like manner cede and relinquish for ever to the 
United States all their claim, right, title, and interest in and 
to all lands and territory lying westwardly of said boundary 
line, or elsewhere within the limits of the United States. 

" Article III. In consideration of the foregoing cession 
and relinquishment, the United States agree to and will 
perform the stipulations, undertakings, and agreements fol- 
lowing, that is to say : 

"1st. There shall be set apart within one year after the 
date of the ratification of this treaty, under the direction of 
the President of the United States, within the Chippeway 
country, for the perpetual use and occupancy of said Bois 
Forte band of Chippeways, a tract of land of not less than 
100,000 acres, the said location to include a lake known by 
the name of Netor As-sab-a-co-na, if, upon examination of 
the country by the agent sent by the President of the 
United States to select the said reservation, it is found 
j>racticable to include the said lake therein, and also one 
township of land on the Grand Fork river, at the mouth of 
Deer creek, if such location shall be found practicable. 

" 2nd. The United States will, as soon as practicable 
after the setting apart of the tract of country first above 
mentioned, erect thereon, without expense to said Indians, 
one blacksmith's shop, to cost not exceeding five hundred 
dollars ; one school-house, to cost not exceeding five hundred 
dollars; and eight houses for their chiefs, to cost not 
exceeding four hundred dollars each ; and a building for an 
agency-house, and store-house for the storage of goods and 
provisions, to cost not exceeding $2,000. 

" 3d. The United States will expend annually, for and 
in behalf of said Bois Forte band of Chippeways, for and 



288 tTPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

during the term of twenty years from and after the ratifica- 
tion of this treaty, the several sums and for the purposes 
following, to wit: For the support of one blacksmith and 
assistant, and for tools, iron and steel, and other articles 
necessary for the blacksmith's shop, $1,500; for one school 
teacher, and the necessary books and stationery for the 
school, $800, the chiefs in council to have the privilege of 
selecting, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, 
the religious denomination to which the said teacher shall 
belong ; for instructions of the said Indians in farming, and 
the purchase of seed, tools, etc., for that purpose, $800 ; 
and for annuity payments, the sum of $11,000, — $3,500 of 
which shall be paid to them in money per capita, $1,000 in 
provisions, ammunition, and tobacco, and $6,500 to be dis- 
tributed to them in goods and other articles suited to their 
wants and conditions. 

" Article IV. To enable the chiefs, head men, and 
warriors now present to establish their people upon the new 
reservation, and to purchase useful articles and presents for 
their people, the United States agree to pay to them, upon 
the ratification of this treaty, the sum of $50,000, to be 
expended under the direction of the Secretary of the 
Interior." 

From the examination of the several treaties between the 
United States and the Chippeways, it will be observed that 
a special efibrt has been made by the government, for the 
civilization of this tribe or nation of Indians. Several dif- 
ferent denominations of Christians, the principal of which 
are the Methodist, Congregationalist, Episcopalian, and 
Catholic, have from time to time seconded the efibrts of 
government, and attempted the introduction of Christianity, 
but their united efibrts have produced no adequate results. 
Indeed, Mr. Bonga, the Indian interpreter to the Mississippi 
bands, and a half-breed, declared, in his report in 1865, that 
" it is now full thirty years since the government and mis- 
sionaries have been trying in every way to get these Indians 



THE 0JIBWA CONFEDERACY. 289 

to adopt in some way the habits of the white man, but all 
their efforts have been to no purpose." Agent Webb, of the 
Lake Superior bands, in his annual report dated November 
8th, 1865, represented that those bands " seem to have been 
almost constantly engaged in grand medicine dances, jug- 
glery, and conjuring. I am unable to report any progress 
or interest manifested in the schools. The Protestant 
mission, under the control of the American Board of Com- 
missioners of Foreign Missions, has been sustained among 
these Indians for over twenty years. The Board have 
decided to abandon it, for want of sufficient encouragement 
to continue their labors." 

The physician to the Mississippi bands has added much 
to these discouraging reports, by his statement that the 
venereal disease, contracted by the natives in their inter- 
course with the vicious whites, almost threatens the exter- 
mination of those bands. 

The efforts of government, and of the missionaries, to 
exclude spirituous liquors from these Indians, have been 
constantly thwarted by the whisky-selling traders, who 
thread the native forests of these bands from every point 
of the compass ; and the failure in their agricultural enter- 
prises is answered quite as readily, by stating the fact that 
their frosty, timbered country, mainly situated between 47° 
and 49° north latitude, is almost totally unfit for agricul- 
ture. If it is true that these Indians are the " wards of 
government," will not posterity demand why they were 
taught agriculture in a non-agricultural region, and in- 
structed in Christianity while they were surrounded by the 
most vicious of the white race, constantly tempting their 
savage appetites with liquid poison, which has proved quite 
as fatal to Indian chastity as to Indian industry? 

By the report of the Indian agent of the Mississippi bands 

in September, 1866, it appears that the agency buildings 

were being constructed on the south side of Leech lake, but 

that the Indians had not then removed to their new reser- 

19 



290 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

vations. The agent had also caused five whisky-traders to 
be arrested and sent to St. Paul, to be indicted by the United 
States District Court, which was accordingly clone, adding 
thereto several of their runners about Crow Wing. The 
agent also complains that whisky is sold to some extent by 
travelers. 

The agent's report from Lake Superior, shows that one 
hundred and fifty-eight Catholic Indians of Bad river reser- 
vation, had petitioned for leave to build a church at that 
point, and that he had granted the petition, notwithstanding 
the remonstrance of a Protestant missionary at the same 
place. He represents the Catholic Indians to be on the 
increase among the Chippeways of Lake Superior, and that 
Catholic missionaries were producing " very salutary results 
among these Indians in many different ways, especially in 
restraining the use of ardent spirits." 

When government places the Chippeways on permanent 
reservations, and protects them from vicious whites, we 
may hope for their regeneration. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE SACS, FOXES, AND POTOWATOMIES, AND A TABLE OF 
ALL THE TRIBES, IN 1866. 

The Sacs and Musquakies, or people of the " Red Land," 
first became known to the whites as inhabitants of northern 
Michigan, about the Saginaw bay. Black Hawk claimed 
that the Sacs anciently lived near Quebec, but in the early 
wars of the Iroquois had been driven west to Mackinaw, 
and from thence to Wisconsin, from which place they had 
emigrated to Rock Island, where he was born. The Mus- 
quakies were called Outagamies, or Foxes, by the Algonquin 
tribes, from their totem, " a fox." From the fact that the 
two tribes had the same customs, spoke the same Algonquin 
dialect, have always lived together since they have been 
known to the whites, and are now merged into one tribe, 
we readily come to the conclusion that they were originally 
two bands of the same tribe near Quebec, and in the early 
Iroquois war fled to Michigan ; from there were swept off 
by the Iroquois raids against the Hurons in 1649, and with 
the Hurons took shelter at Mackinaw ; and that about 1652 
were again defeated, and fled to the Fox river in Wisconsin. 

In previous chapters we have traced their wars with the 
Sioux to 1702, then with the Chippeways and French to 
1754, when the French effected a peace between them, the 
Chippeways and Christinaux, and themselves, after which 
they were allies of the French until the fall of Canada in 
1760. From 1702 to 1754, the French exhausted every art 



292 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

of both war and diplomacy, to break up their alliance with 
the Sioux, and make them take up the tomahawk against 
the English, but without effect. Hence the French called 
them all kinds of hard names, and repeatedly had them all 
exterminated and driven out of Wisconsin. After the fall 
of Canada, these tribes united again with the Sioux, Kick- 
apoos, and Winnebagoes, and soon nearly exterminated the 
Illinois. *They were also joined by the Ottawas after the 
assassination of Pontiac, who revenged the assassination on 
the Peorias. After this war, they joined the British against 
the colonies in our revolution, and after the close of that 
war, they crossed the Mississippi, and drove the Iowas, 
Missourias, and Mandans, out of the greater part of the 
present State of Iowa. 

About in this position Governor Harrison found them 
when he took possession of the west side of the upper 
Mississippi, after its purchase from France. At this time 
our government adopted the policy of extinguishing the 
Indian title to all lands east of the Mississippi, and locating 
the Indians on the west side. This policy soon alarmed the 
Shawnees and Miamies, as well as the Sacs and Foxes, and 
led to the Tecumseh Confederacy, which was only broken 
up by the battle of Tippecanoe, in November, 1811. 

Among the first treaties negotiated by Governor Harrison, 
to carry into effect the removal of the Indians west of the 
Mississippi, was that of November 3, 1804, at St. Louis, 
with the Sacs and Foxes. 

This treaty ceded to the United States the following 
territory : " Beginning at a point on the Missouri river 
opposite to the mouth of the Gasconade river ; thence, in a 
direct course, so as to strike the river Jefferson at the dis- 
tance of thirty miles from its mouth, and down the said 
Jefferson to the Mississippi ; thence, up the Mississippi to the 
mouth of the Ouisconsing river, and up the same to a point 
which shall be thirty-six miles in a direct line from the 
mouth of said river ; thence, by a direct line, to the point 



THE SACS, FOXES, AND POTOWATOMIES. 293 

where the Fox river (a branch of the Illinois) leaves the 
small lake called Sakuegan ; thence, down the Fox river to 
the Illinois river, and down the same to the Mississippi." 

For this large tract of land, covering large parts of 
Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri, the government engaged 
to give $2,234.50 in goods, and an annuity of $1,000 per 
year forever in goods, at costs at the place where pur- 
chased. 

This was a small price in proportion to what was after- 
wards paid for Indian lands, but as the title to a portion of 
the territory was subsequently disputed, it may not have 
been a very unreasonable price at the time. 

But, however, it gave great dissatisfaction to the tribes, 
and Black Hawk charged, in subsequent years, that the 
chiefs were not authorized to sell the land ; besides that, 
they were made drunk, and did not know that they had 
made any such treaty. During the war of 1812, Black 
Hawk, with his belligerent warriors, went to Detroit, and 
the balance of the tribe of Sacs put themselves under the 
protection of the United States, and settled on the Missouri 
river, and at the close of the war signed a treaty of peace, 
as did the Foxes also, both confirming the treaty of 1804. 
Black Hawk, being threatened with an armed force, finally 
concluded to go down to St. Louis, and the 13th of May, 
1816, signed a treaty of peace, ratifying the treaty of 1804 ; 
and further engaged to " deliver up all the property they had 
stolen or plundered from the United States since they were 
notified of the treaty of peace with Great Britain." To this 
treaty Black Hawk acknowledged that he " touched the 
quill," but denied that he understood that by it he surren- 
dered his village on Rock river. 

By another treaty of the 3rd September, 1822, the Sacs 
and Foxes relinquished their right to have the United 
States establish a "trading house, or factory," at a con- 
venient point at which the Indians could trade, and save 



294 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

themselves from the imposition of traders, for which the 
United States paid $1,000 in merchandise. 

By another treaty of the 4th August, 1824, the Sacs and 
Foxes sold the United States all their lands in the State of 
Missouri, north of the Missouri river, for which they received 
$1,000 the same year, and an annuity of $1,000 per year for 
ten years ; to a half-breed, $500, for his losses during the 
late "war; and the United States agreed to furnish a black- 
smith during the pleasure of the President of the United 
States, and some other gratuities, as the President " may 
deem expedient." 

By a treaty held with the various Indian tribes of the 
upper Mississippi, by the United States, August 19th, 1825, 
at Prairie Du Chien, to settle the old Sioux and Chippeway 
war, and a war lately commenced between the Sacs, Foxes, 
and Iowas, against the Sioux, and establish peace, by 
agreeing on the boundary lines between the different tribes, 
our government found that the various tribes had many 
conflicting claims ; but between the Sioux, and Sacs, and 
Foxes, they agreed to a line " commencing at the mouth 
of the Upper Iowa river, and ascending said river to its left 
fork ; thence up that fork to its source ; thence crossing the 
fork of Red Cedar river, in a direct line to the second or 
upper fork of the Des Moines ; and thence in a direct line 
to the lower fork of the Calumet river, and down that river 
to its junction with the Missouri ;" but from the Des Moines 
to the Missouri the line was held subject to the claims of 
the Yankton band of Sioux, and the Iowas and Ottoes. 

By another treaty with the Sacs, Foxes, and Indians 
west, made July 15th, 1830, a large tract of country in the 
south-western part of the State of Iowa, extending west 
from the Des Moines river to the Missouri, was set apart, 
and the President was authorized to locate thereon the 
tribes which then inhabited it, as well as other tribes. The 
Sacs and Foxes in this treaty ceded to the United States a 
strip of land twenty miles wide, from the Mississippi to the 



THE SACS, FOXES, AND POTOWATOMTES. 295 

Des Moines, on the north side of their territory, and on the 
south side of the line agreed upon between them and the 
Sioux in the treaty of 1825, and the Medawah-kanton, 
Wah-pay-koota, Wahpeton and Sisseton bands of the Sioux ; 
also cede to the United States a similar tract of twenty 
miles wide, on the north side of the tract above ceded by 
the Sacs and Foxes. 

The time having arrived for the Sacs and Foxes to leave 
the east bank of the Mississippi, under the treaty of 1804, 
Ke-o-kuck, or " Watchful Fox," the leader of the friendly 
Sacs and Foxes, erected his wigwam on the west side of 
the river, and was followed by perhaps two-thirds of the 
two tribes; but Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or the "Black 
Sparrow-Hawk," commonly called " Black Hawk," with 
his band, refused to leave their village near Rock Island. 
They contended that they had not sold their village, evi- 
dently believing that the Americans would not drive them 
off by force. 

" Black Hawk" and his surviving warriors of the war of 
1812, were evidently no friends of the Americans, and 
associated with his brother, Wau-ba-kee-shik, the " Pro- 
phet," sent his war belts to neighboring tribes, and sought 
to' establish another confederacy, after the manner of 
Pontiac and Tecumseh, claiming to have had promises of 
assistance from the English at Maiden, and the Potowa- 
tomies, Winnebagoes and other tribes; but as the sequel 
proved, he evidently imposed on his too credulous warriors. 

In the spring of 1832, Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, 
ordered out 1,800 militia, and notified General Atkinson, 
then in command of the regular troops, of the movements 
of Black Hawk. The General moved up the Mississippi 
early in April, and ordered " Black Hawk " to leave the 
country. The 27th of April, the Illinois militia, under 
Brigadier-General Samuel Whitesides, of the State militia, 
commenced their march up the Mississippi to Rock river. 

"Black Hawk," hearing of the advance of forces, re- 



296 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

treated up Rock river, and sent word to General Atkinson 
that he was going to raise corn at the prophet's town above. 

General Whiteside was ordered to follow " Black Hawk " 
fifty miles, to the prophet's town, and await the arrival of 
the regular troops under General Atkinson, with provisions. 

Pursuant to the order, General Whiteside advanced to 
the prophet's town, which he burnt, and forty miles further, 
to Dixon's ferry, where he met Majors Stillman and Baily, 
with 275 additional militia from the region of Peoria, and 
halted for the regular troops. 

Majors Stillman and Baily asked leave to follow after 
" Black Hawk," to watch his motions, and were allowed to 
do so. They advanced with their forces the 12th of May, 
to a place now called Stillman's Run, and encamped for the 
night. Soon after the camp was pitched, they discovered 
three Indians a mile distant, approaching with a white flag, 
when a few of Stillman's men, without orders, mounted 
their horses, advanced upon and took the Indians prisoners. 
" Black Hawk " dispatched five more Indians to look after 
the first three who were attacked ; two of these were killed 
by Stillman's men, and the balance escaped. " Black 
Hawk," being near at hand, raised the war-whoop and 
attacked the advance party, who, retreating back to their 
camp, spread the alarm, when the whole of Stillman's force 
broke and fled to Dixon, and were pursued by some forty 
Indians several miles. Eleven whites were killed. The 
Indians lost three, and received the plunder of the camp. 

" Black Hawk " then advanced up the river, and pitched 
his camp near the four lakes, in Wisconsin. General 
Atkinson soon joined General Whiteside at Dixon, when 
the militia insisted on going home, and were discharged 
from further service. 

When the news of the advance of " Black Hawk " up 
Rock river reached the mining region in Wisconsin, General 
Dodge, of Dodgeville, raised a party of twenty-seven volun- 
teers, and started for Rock river, to confer with General 



THE SACS, FOXES, AND POTOWATOMIES. 29 Y 

Atkinson, but met an express from Governor Reynolds, 
advising him of the fi^ht at Stillman's Run, when he turned 
home, and rallied the miners to defend the country. They 
in a few days erected thirteen forts or block-houses, for the 
security of their families, and General Dodge occupied Fort 
Union at Dodgeville. 

Black Hawk dispatched numerous parties to the settle- 
ments, to kill and plunder. One of these parties came to 
the mines and commenced depredations. 

General Dodge immediately rallied twenty-eight men, 
followed the trail of the Indians to the Pickatonica river, 
when, leaving their horses with seven men, General Dodge 
and the balance waded the river, and as they raised the 
opposite bank, received the fire of the Indians, then in 
ambush. Nothing daunted, the General and his party 
charged the Indians before they could load, killing every 
one in less than five minutes — seventeen in number — while 
the loss of the miners was only three killed and one 
wounded. 

This affair showed to good advantage the character of 
General Dodge, who had been raised in the Indian country. 
Several other skirmishes were had before the advance of 
General Atkinson. 

After the return of the militia, General Atkinson had too 
small a force to advance, and Governor Reynolds again 
called for volunteers, when 4,200 men hastened to the 
general's standard, and by the 22nd of June commenced 
ascending Rock river. They found that " Black Hawk " 
was at the mouth of White Water river, above Lake 
Koshkonong. General Atkinson sent a part of his forces 
by way of the mines, where they were joined by General 
Dodge and 250 miners, and formed a junction with General 
Atkinson at Koshkonong. The commander of the expedi- 
tion being short of provisions, he sent Generals Henry, 
Alexander, Posey, and Dodge, with their commands, to 
Fort Winnebago for supplies. Generals Posey and Alex- 
19* 



298 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

ander returned with the provisions, and Generals Henry and 
Dodge struck across the country to Rock river, at the 
rapids, where they discovered the Indian trail and gave 
immediate pursuit. On the 21st of July they reached the 
south bank of the Wisconsin river, opposite Sac Prairie, 
where they found " Black Hawk " engaged in transporting 
his squaws and children across the river. " I^lack Hawk " 
led a part of his warriors against the whites to hold them in 
check, while the balance aided in crossing the river. The 
battle lasted until dark, and the Indians crossed the river 
with small loss. 

" Black Hawk " bent his course through the heavy forests 
to the north-west, hoping to escape across the Mississippi ; 
and as his poor fugitive band toiled over those high and 
interminable bluffs, they left the trail literally strewed with 
those who had died from wounds and starvation. At length 
they reached the Mississippi some two miles below the 
mouth of Bad Ax river, and commenced crossing in canoes, 
but were stopped by a steamboat sent up the river with 
some troops and a cannon. On the 2nd day of August, 
the American forces, the advance of which was led on by 
General Dodge, and supported by Colonel Zach. Taylor, 
with his regulars, came up on the trail, and commenced an 
immediate attack. The warriors attempted to check the 
troops, while the squaws, with their children on their backs, 
attempted to swim across a branch of the river to an island, 
but were mercilessly shot down by the exasperated soldiers. 
" Black Hawk," with the Prophet and their families, 
escaped to the Winnebago village at La Crosse, and 
delivered themselves up to De Carry, the chief of that 
band. About one hundred and fifty escaped across the 
river, but were pursued by the Sioux, then allies of the 
Americans, and nearly half of them massacred by those 
savages. 

Prisoners were not reckoned among the trophies of the 
victory. Mr. James Reed, who visited the battle-ground 



THE SACS, FOXES, AOT) POTOWATOMIES. 299 

the same day, declared to the writer that it was literally a 
slaughter of squaws and children ; and that, drifted against 
some flood-wood, he counted a dozen Indian girls from 
fourteen to sixteen years of age, who had been shot in 
attempting to swim the river. He rescued a little girl who 
was clinging to her dead mother, and took her to the 
prairie. 

The Winnebago chief, Winnoshiek, whose wife was 
sister to the " Prophet," remained neutral ; but his son, 
about eighteen years old, acted as guide to " Black Hawk," 
and, together with a son of the " Prophet," about the same 
age, were wounded and taken prisoners early the next 
morning after the battle, while engaged in helping some 
squaws to cross the river from the island. 

De Carry, another Winnebago chief, assisted the Ameri- 
cans with a company of warriors, and aided a party of 
whites in capturing a few Indians and squaws who went 
down the Wisconsin ; bat he had returned to La Crosse, at 
the time of the battle at Bad Ax. 

" Black Hawk" and his party, in all twenty-one, delivered 
themselves to De Carry at La Crosse, who sent " Black 
Hawk" and the " Prophet" to the government agent at 
Prairie Du Chien, by Kliay-rah-tshoan-saip-Jcaic, or " Black 
Hawk," an under chief of the Winnebagoes, and a canoe- 
man, who was half-breed Sioux and Winnebago. Mr. James 
Reed saw the party land at Prairie Du Chien. 

The newspaper speeches put into the mouths of De Carry 
and Charter, if made by any Indians, were made by the 
Winnebago "Black Hawk" and his boatman, as De Carry 
informed the writer that he did not go to Prairie Du Chien 
at the time. Through the influence of Mr. Saterlee Clark, 
then an Indian trader at the Prairie, and perhaps some 
others, the government paid $1,000 for the capture of 
" Black Hawk" and the " Prophet," which was distributed 
between Mr. Clark, De Carry, one of the " Thunders," and 
probably some others. 



300 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

This war having closed by the killing or capture of the 
greater part of " Black Hawk's" and the " Prophet's" band, 
the government convened at Rock Island the balance of the 
Sacs and Foxes, and on the 21st day of September, 1832, 
concluded a treaty with them, of which the following is the 
preamble : 

" Whereas, under certain lawless and desperate leaders, a 
formidable band, constituting a large portion of the Sac and 
Fox nation, left their country in April last, and, in violation 
of treaties, commenced an unprovoked war upon unsuspect- 
ing and defenceless citizens of the United States, sparing 
neither age nor sex ; and whereas the United States, at a 
great expense of treasure, have subdued the said hostile 
bands, killing and capturing all its principal chiefs and 
warriors, the said States, partly as indemnity for the 
expense incurred, and partly to secure the future safety and 
tranquility of the invaded frontier, demand of the said 
tribes, to the use of the United States, a cession of a tract 
of the Sac and Fox country bordering on said frontier, more 
than proportional to the number of the hostile band who 
have been so conquered and subdued. 

" Article I. Accordingly, the confederated tribes of 
Sacs and Foxes hereby cede to the United States for ever, 
all the lands to which the said tribes have title or claim 
(with the exception of the reservation hereinafter made,) 
included within the following bounds, to wit: Beginning 
on the Mississippi river, at a point where the Sac and Fox 
northern boundary line, as established by the second article 
of the treaty of Prairie Du Chien, of the 15th of July, 1825, 
strikes said river; thence up said boundary line to a point 
fifty miles from the Mississippi, measured on said line ; 
thence in a right line to the nearest point on the Red Cedar 
of the Iowa, forty miles from the Mississippi river ; thence 
in a right line to a point in the northern boundary line of 
the State of Missouri, fifty miles, measured on said bound- 
ary, from the Mississippi river ; thence by the last men- 




KEOKUK 



^i 




ZJ-r 



BLACK HAWK 

fSAC CHIEF.) 



THE SACS, FOXES, AND POTOWATOMIES. 303 

tioned boundary to the Mississippi river, and by the western 
shore of said river to the place of beginning." 

The Sacs and Foxes further agreed to remove from said 
land by the 1st of June, 1832, and not hunt or fish thereon 
after that date. 

The reservation above named was of four hundred square 
miles, on both sides of the Iowa river, which was to include 
Ke-o-kuk's village, located twelve miles from the Missis- 
sippi. 

In addition to our losses in the war, the United States 
agreed to pay the Sacs and Foxes an annual annuity of 
$20,000 for thirty years, and also pay " Farnham and 
Davenport, Indian traders at Rock Island, the sum of 
$40,000," for Indian debts, and grant to Le Claire, inter- 
preter, two sections of land, and maintain among the Sacs 
and Foxes a gun and blacksmith, with steel, etc. 

The United States restored all prisoners, but stipulated 
that the remnant of " Black Hawk's" band should be dis- 
tributed equally among the two tribes ; and " Black Hawk," 
the " Prophet," their sons, Napope, and two other warriors, 
should remain, during the pleasure of the President, as 
hostages for the good conduct of their band. 

The United States, also, " to give a striking evidence of 
their mercy and liberality," gave the tribes " thirty-five beef 
cattle, twelve bushels of salt, thirty barrels of pork, and 
fifty barrels of flour, and cause to be delivered, for the same 
j^urpose, in the month of April next, at the mouth of the 
lower Iowa, 6,000 bushels of corn." The treaty was 
signed by Major-General Winfield Scott and Governor 
John Reynolds, on the part of the United States, and by 
Ke-o-kuk and thirty-two chiefs and warriors on the part of 
the United States. 



304 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

This treaty opened the whole eastern part of the present 
State of Iowa for settlement, and in June and July of 1833 
the great tide of emigrants poured into and founded that 
State. The reservation named in the foregoing treaty was 
finally ceded to the United States, September 28th, 1836, 
for which the government paid seventy-five cents per acre 
in coin. 

By another treaty, made October 21st, 1837, the Sacs and 
Foxes ceded 1,250,000 acres lying along the west line of 
the cession of 1832, for which the United States gave 
$377,000. 

The Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri river, by a separate 
treaty of the same date, ceded to the United States all the 
land belonging to that band east of the Missouri river, for 
which the government paid them $160,000. 

And finally, on the 11th of October, 1842, the confederate 
tribes of Sacs and Foxes ceded all the balance of their lands 
west of the Mississippi, for $1,058,566, besides some items 
of provisions, etc. ; and in addition, the United States 
engaged to procure them another tract of land, for their 
residence, on the Missouri river or its branches, and the 
Mississippi bands were accordingly located by the Presi- 
dent on a reservation of 435,200 acres on the Osage river; 
while the Missouri band occupied a reservation on the south 
side of the Great Nemaha river, nearly in the south-eastern 
corner of the territory of Nebraska. 

By a new treaty, the Sac and Fox band of the Missouri, 
in 1863, were located on twenty -five sections previously 
belonging to the Iowas, while their own lands were to be 
sold for the joint benefit of the Sacs and Foxes and Iowas. 

The accounts which have been given by authors from 
time to time of the numbers of the Sacs and Foxes, have 
varied much more than the tribe would be likely to change, 
and the inaccuracies probably originated from the lack of 
proper information. 

When the Rev. Father Allouez first met these tribes at 



THE SACS, FOXES, AND POTOWATOMIES. 305 

Cha-goua-mi-gong bay, Lake Superior, in 1665, he estimated 
the Foxes at 1,000 warriors and hunters; and while he did 
not pretend to estimate the Sacs, he remarked that he had 
seen two hundred of their warriors. When the Rev. Father 
visited the Foxes at their residence on Fox river, in 1670, 
he remarked, that " this nation is renowned for being 
numerous ; they have more than four hundred men bearing 
arms ; the number of women and children is greater, on 
account of polygamy, which exists among them, each man 
having commonly four wives, some of them six, and others 
as high as ten;" and that the previous March, "six great 
lodges," containing about one hundred, were cut off by the 
Iroquois. In 1718 the Foxes were estimated by the French 
to have five hundred men, and the Sacs one hundred and 
twenty; and in 1736 they were again set down at one 
hundred and fifty Sac and one hundred Fox warriors. In 
1763 Sir William Johnson estimated them at three hundred 
Sac and three hundred and twenty Fox (men.) Lieutenant 
Gorrill, commandant at Green Bay, in 1761, estimated the 
Foxes on Fox river at three hundred and fifty warriors, 
and Sacs, near the Mississippi, at the same number. 

Captain Carver, who visited these tribes in 1766, estimated 
the Sacs at 300 warriors, who spent their summers in wars 
against the Illinois and Pawnee Indians ; and stated that 
the Sacs then lived on the Wisconsin river at a great village 
of ninety houses, one day's journey below the portage. 
Their houses were "built of hewn plank, neatly jointed, 
and covered with bark," each large enough to hold several 
families. About this time the band probably located at 
Rock Island. The Foxes he found at Prairie Du Chien, 
which then contained about three hundred houses, " well 
built after the Indian manner." 

In 1841, it appears from a public document, that the Sacs 

and Foxes of the Mississippi, by estimation, numbered 

6,400, and those of the Missouri river, 500 souls. In June, 

1858, the former numbered 1,330, and the latter, 322; while 

20 



306 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

in 1863, the former numbered in May only 975, and the 
latter, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, sixty, of 
-whom thirty-seven were, in October of that year, volunteers 
in the United States military service. 

By the census of May 15, 1865, the Sacs and Foxes of 
the Mississippi in Kansas numbered 364 men, and 441 
women, while those of the Missouri in the Great Nemaha 
agency, numbered only 44 men and 51 women, or a total of 
900 souls. 

It is believed, however, by the writer, that this diminution 
is not caused by the absolute decay of the tribes to the 
extent indicated, but mainly to the uncivilized portions 
ei dgrating to the regions of the buffalo and the Rocky 
mountains. In 1859 a chief, with six lodges, dissatisfied 
with the efforts of government to establish civilization, 
removed, and settled in Iowa, where they were in 1866. It 
is a fact well known, that many of the trappers and traders 
of Wisconsin and Minnesota, passed on before the tide of 
emigration, and their log huts for years after might have 
been seen among the beaver dams in the dark canons of 
the sources of the Columbia and Missouri rivers; and it is 
i\ isonable to infer that most of those took with them their 
Indian friends, with whom they had become connected in 
marriage or in trade. The Indian loves hunting, and when 
game became scarce in one locality, it was his custom to 
go where it was more plenty ; and thus probably thousands 
have joined the tribes of the Rocky mountains, thereby 
decimating the eastern tribes, and leading us to believe that 
civilization is working their extermination. 

The Sacs and Foxes of the Kansas agency, in 1865, raised 
7,500 bushels of corn, and had 1,700 horses and ponies; and 
the total of all their personal property was estimated at 
$7 1,910. They are, however, what are called "Blanket 
]i lians," having as yet not availed themselves, to much 
extent, of the allotment of the land, as provided by an act 



POTOWATOMIES. 307 

of Congress, although their land has lately been surveyed 
for that purpose. 

In April, 1863, the Rev. R. P. Duval, and lady, of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, commenced a mission school 
in the tribe ; also a Sabbath school, with preaching on the 
Sabbath. They received some help from some members of 
the tribe, and in 1866 the government rendered them some 
assistance from the educational fund ; and the latter year 
were reported as well sustained by the Indians, and as 
accomplishing much good. Drunkenness in 1865 had nearly 
disappeared from the tribe, and Superintendent Murphy, 
the following year, said of them, that " They are, as a 
tribe, the most intelligent Indians I have yet met, and I 
believe as a general thing mean to do right." During 1866, 
traders sowed dissensions among them, and much embit- 
tered the uncivilized portions, headed by their chief, Mo- 
ko-ho-ko, and nearly produced a civil war ; but these 
differences were harmonized by special agent W. R. Irwin, 
and peace was restored. The chiefs Keokuk, Che-ko-skuck, 
and Pah-teck-quaw, head the party for civilization, and 
themselves live in houses and cultivate land. The duty of 
government in this case to render prompt protection was 
made apparent by the Sioux massacre. 

The Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri, in 1866, were 
reported by agent Norris as not as much advanced in civili- 
zation as the Iowas, but were " a remarkably civil, well- 
disposed tribe." 

POTOWATOMIES. 

This tribe, according to the Jesuit missionaries, originally 
occupied, with the Sacs and Foxes, that part of Michigan 
between Saginaw Bay and Lake Michigan. In 1639 a band 
of them occupied the northern islands in Green Bay, and 
were by the Sioux, the next year, driven off, and took refuge 
at the falls of St. Mary. The identity of their language and 
customs with the Sacs and Foxes, leaves no doubt that they 



308 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

were originally a kindred band to those tribes, and expelled 
with them from Canada previous to 1639, by the Iroquois. 
After that war subsided, and previous to 1700, the Potowat- 
omies divided into two principal bands, and one located 
near Detroit, and the other at St. Joseph's, Michigan ; while 
a few stragglers, with others of a like character from several 
other tribes, located at Milwaukee, which were afterwards 
known as " the united tribes of Ottawas, Chippeways and 
Pottawatamies, residing on the Illinois and Milwaukee 
rivers, and their waters, and on the south-western parts of 
Lake Michigan." Captain De Peyster, the British com- 
mandant at Mackinaw in 1*779, called these bands "rune- 
gates of Milwaukee — a horrid set of refractory Indians." 
It was these bands that attacked and captured the retreating 
command of Captain Heald, at Chicago, August 15, 1812. 

These lawless bands having no land of their oavii, natur- 
ally enough claimed all the land of their respective tribes, 
and the United States got into difficulty with them in their 
purchase of the Sacs and Foxes of the south-west part of 
Wisconsin, and north-west part of Illinois, by the treaty of 
1804. 

To settle all cause of complaint, the United States treated 
with them August 24, 1816, obtained a release of their claim 
of the land purchased of the Sacs and Foxes south of " a 
due west line from the southern extremity of Lake Michi- 
gan to the Mississippi," and the United States released to 
them the balance of their purchase north of said line, 
except five leagues square at the mouth of the Wisconsin 
river, including Prairie Du Chien. The United States also 
purchased of them the following tract : " Beginning on the 
left bank of the Fox river of Illinois, ten miles above the 
mouth of said Fox river ; thence, running so as to cross 
Sandy creek ten miles above its mouth ; thence, in a direct 
line, to a point ten miles north of the west end of the por- 
tage, between Chicago creek, which empties into Lake 
Michigan, and the river Desplaines, a fork of the Illinois ; 



POTOWATOMIES. 309 

thence, in a direct line, to a point on Lake Michigan ten 
miles northward of the mouth of Chicago creek ; thence, 
along the lake, to a point ten miles southward of the mouth 
of said Chicago creek ; thence, in a direct line, to a point on 
the Kankakee ten miles above its. mouth ; thence, with the 
said Kankakee and the Illinois river, to the mouth of Fox 
river ; and thence, to the place of beginning." This tract 
included Chicago, which had previously been purchased by 
General Wayne in 1795. 

As the consideration for the cession in the treaty, the 
United States delivered " a considerable quantity of mer- 
chandise," and agreed " to pay them, annually, for the term 
of twelve years, goods to the value of $1,000, at cost price." 

By the treaty of 1825 with the various tribes, to settle 
their respective boundaries, and to establish peace between 
the Sioux on one part, and the Chippeways, Sacs, Foxes, 
Iowas, and probably other tribes on the other, it was found 
that nearly all the tribes had conflicting boundaries ; but 
the United States recognized the rights of these bands of 
Ottawas, Chippeways, and Potowatomies to the mineral 
country about Galena, and in 1828 the United States made 
an unsuccessful attempt to purchase that country of these 
bands. They renewed the effort the following year, and, 
July 29th, obtained the following cession: " Beginning at 
the Winnebago village, on Rock river, forty miles from its 
mouth, and running thence down the Rock river to a line 
which runs due west from the most southern bend of Lake 
Michigan to the Mississippi river, and with that line to the 
Mississippi river opposite Rock Island; thence up that 
river to the United States reservation at the mouth of the 
Ouisconsin ; thence with the south and east lines of said 
reservation to the Ouisconsin river; thence southerly, 
passing the heads of the small streams emptying into the 
Mississippi, to the Rock river aforesaid, at the Winnebago 
village, the place of beginning. 

" Also, one other tract of land, described as follows, to 



310 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

wit : Beginning on the western shore of Lake Michigan, at 
the north-east corner of the field of Antoine Ouitmette, who 
lives near Gross Pointe, about twelve miles north of 
Chicago ; thence running due west to Rock river, afore- 
said ; thence down the said river to where a line drawn due 
west from the most southern bend of Lake Michigan crosses 
said river ; thence east, along said line, to the Fox river of 
the Illinois ; thence along the north-western boundary line 
of the cession of 181b to Lake Michigan; thence north- 
wardly, along the western shore of said lake to the place 
of beginning." From these tracts, the Indians reserved 
eleven sections for three Indians, and several more for 
certain half-breeds. 

The consideration paid for this purchase was: $11,601, 
for Indian debts; $12,000 worth of goods the following 
October, and $16,000 " annually for ever in specie;" and 
" make permanent, for the use of the said Indians, the black- 
smith's establishment at Chicago." 

By a treaty with the Potowatomies, without naming any 
other bands, made October 20th, 1832, they ceded the fol- 
lowing additional territory : " Beginning at a point on 
Lake Michigan ten miles southward of the mouth of 
Chicago river; thence, in a direct line, to a point on the 
Kankakee river, ten miles above its mouth ; thence, with 
said river and the Illinois river to the mouth of Fox river, 
being the boundary of a cession made by them in 1816; 
thence, with the southern boundary of the Indian territory, 
to the State line between Illinois and Indiana ; thence north 
with said line to Lake Michigan ; thence, with the shore of 
Lake Michigan, to the place of beginning." 

From this tract nearly forty sections were reserved to 
various chiefs and half-breeds. The government gave the 
Indians for this tract an annuity for twenty years of $15,000, 
and $600 annually to Billy Caldwell, $200 to Alexander 
Robinson, and $200 to Peter Le Clerc, during their natural 
lives ; also, paid Indian debts to traders, $28,746 ; $75,000 



POTOWATOMIES. 3 1 1 

in merchandise, and $1,400 for horses stolen during the 
" Black Hawk" war ; and the Indians were allowed to 
hunt and fish on the land and vicinity as long as it remained 
the property of the United States, in consideration that said 
tribe had been " the faithful allies of the United States 
during the late conflict with the Sacs and Foxes." 

The other bands of the Potowatomies that emigrated to 
Detroit and to St. Joseph's, above mentioned, by diverse 
treaties sold the most of their land in Indiana, Ohio, and 
Michigan, except some reservations, and emigrated west of 
the Mississippi, where a general treaty was formed in 184 6, 
uniting the different bands, with the following preamble : 
" Whereas, the various bands of the Potowatomie Indians, 
known as the Chippeways, Ottawas, and Potowatomies, the 
Potowatomies of the Prairie, the Potowatomies of the 
Wabash, and the Potowatomies of Indiana, have, subse- 
quent to the year 1828, entered into separate and distinct 
treaties with the United States, by which they have been 
separated and located in different countries, and difficulties 
have arisen as to the proper distribution of the stipulations 
under various treaties, and being the same people by 
kindred, by feeling, and by language, and having, in former 
periods, lived on and owned their lands in common; and 
being desirous to unite in one common country, and again 
become one people, and receive their annuities and other 
benefits in common, and to abolish all minor distinctions 
of bands by which they have heretofore been divided, and 
are anxious to be known only as the Potowatomie Nation, 
thereby reinstating the national character; and whereas the 
United States are also anxious to restore and concentrate 
said tribes to a state so desirable and necessary for the 
happiness of their people, as well as to enable the govern- 
ment to arrange and manage its intercourse with them : 
now, therefore, the United States and said Indians do 
hereby agree that said people shall hereafter be known ae a 
nation, to be called the Potowatomie Nation." 



812 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

By the second article of said treaty, " the said tribes of 
Indians hereby agree to sell and cede, and do hereby sell 
and cede to the United States, all the lands to which they 
have claim of any kind whatsoever, and especially the tracts 
or parcels of lands ceded to them by the treaty of Chicago, 
a^nd subsequent thereto, and now in whole or in part pos- 
sessed by their people, lying and being north of the river 
Missouri, and embraced in the limits of the territory of Iowa, 
and also all that tract of country lying and being on or near 
the Osage river, and west of the State of Missouri ; it being 
understood that these cessions are not to affect the title of 
said Indians to any grants or reservations made to them by 
former treaties." • 

The consideration for this cession was $850,000 ; $87,000 
of which were to be paid by the cession to the Indians of 
576,000 acres of land on both sides of the Kansas river, 
west of the Missouri river, on to which land the consolidated 
tribe was to remove and permanently settle, within two 
years from the date of the ratification of the treaty. 

They promptly removed to their reservation, with few 
exceptions, and numbered, on the " annuity roll of 1854," 
3,444. Two hundred and fifty, who had intermarried with 
the Kickapoos, remained with that tribe, a few families with 
the Sacs and Foxes, and a few more remained back in the 
States of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, so that the whole 
tribe in 1854 was estimated to contain about 4,000 souls. 

The political difficulties which originated in the organiza- 
tion of the Kansas territory in 1854, tended to demoralize 
the Indians of that territory, and the new emigrants tres- 
passed upon their lands, and sold them whisky; and the anti- 
legislative party opened the ballot-box and attempted to 
make partisan speeches among them, notwithstanding the 
Indian reservations were expressly excluded from the 
operations of the law organizing the territory. The 
" Prairie" or " Blanket" Indians, who were adverse to the 
civilization of the tribe, committed depredations on the 



POTOWATOMIES. 313 

" Farmer" Indians, by killing some of their stock and burn- 
ing some of their cabins, but, fortunately for the Indians, 
they did not so far approximate to civilization as to imitate 
their white neighbors in their midnight assassinations. 

The Indians complained that the government had not 
complied with their promises to induce the Indians to emi- 
grate, and finally refused to accept their annuity. 

The most of these troubles were only temporary, and in 
1858 the Indian agent reported that a portion of the " Prairie 
band " had commenced improving farms and sending their 
children to the schools, which were very prosperous. 

The desire of the farmers to have their farms set off to 
them in severalty, was carried into effect by a treaty, in 
1861, and the government caused a survey of the reserva- 
tion for that purpose, and in September, 1863, the agent 
reported that " allotments had been made to 1,375 persons, 
seven of whom were chiefs, drawing one section each ; 
seven head men, each one-half section ; and the balance, 
eighty acres each, making in the aggregate about 136,240 
acres." Many of those farmers intended to become citizens 
of the United States under the act of Congress for that 
purpose. The uncivilized portions of the tribe continued 
to hold their lands in common. 

The census of the tribe in June, 1863, then numbered 648 
men, 593 women, and 1,033 children; total, 2,274. This 
was a large decrease since 1854, part of which was occa- 
sioned by deaths, but the greater part by stragglers to the 
hunting regions of the west, and to their old homes in the 
States. This year, they raised 3,720 bushels of wheat, 
45,000 bushels of corn, 1,200 bushels of oats, 20 acres of 
potatoes, and had 1,200 horses, 1,000 cattle, 2,000 hogs, and 
1,000 tons of hay. 

The Catholic school averaged, during the year, ninety- 
five male pupils, under the care of four male teachers of the 
" Society of Jesus," and seventy-five girls under the care of 
" four ladies of the Society of the Sacred Heart," both under 
20* 



314 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the general supervision of Rev. J. F. Diel. This school had 
then existed twenty years, and was conducted on the man- 
ual labor principle. 

Independent of this, there was a select school of fifteen 
scholars under a female teacher. The Baptist manual labor 
school, being under the patronage of the church south, was 
discontinued early in 1861, on the breaking out of the rebel- 
lion, but was revived in 1866 by other persons. 

The population of the Potowatomies June 1, 1865, was 
1,874, being a decrease, since the previous year, of 404, 
which the agent accounted for by " forty going south," and 
" about 400 going north. Of those who went south, noth- 
ing certain is known. Of the other party, a few have 
returned, the main body having scattered through parts of 
Iowa and Wisconsin, some having gone as far as Michigan." 

That part of the tribe which remained, cultivated 1,900 
acres, of which 1,600 were put to corn, and 100 to wheat. 
Their total valuation of personal property in 1865, was 
estimated at $184,200. The agent further says that "a 
large proportion of that part of the tribe who have received 
lands in severalty, are industriously engaged in opening 
farms upon their allotments," and that many of those " are 
already sufficiently intelligent to be intrusted with the man- 
agement of their own affairs." Seventy-one of the young 
Indians entered the Union army, being thereto advised by 
the chiefs. 

The St. Mary's Catholic mission school had 240 scholars 
of both sexes, and was in a prosperous condition in 1865. 

In 1866 this school was still in successful operation, and 
the superintendent, speaking of the pupils, said : " They 
not only spell, read, write, and cypher, but they study with 
Huccess the various other branches of geography, history, 
and book-keeping, grammar, algebra, geometry, logic, phi- 
losophy, and astronomy. Besides, they are so docile, so 
willing to improve, that between their school hours they 
omploy themselves, with pleasure, in learning whatever 



POTOW ATOMIES. 315 

handiwork may be assigned to them," and particularly " to 
become good farmers." The girls, in addition to their 
studies, are " trained to acquire whatever may be deemed 
useful to good housekeepers and accomplished mothers of 
families." 

The tribe, in 1866, were still troubled by white trespassers 
and whisky-sellers, although the agent had caused several 
of them to be indicted and punished every year. A limited 
number of farmers had become naturalized citizens, and 
others were about making application for citizenship. 

We close our sketches of the Indian tribes with a table, 
compiled by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in October, 
1866, giving the superintendencies, agencies, names of 
tribes and their population, of all the Indians in the United 
States up to that date. 



316 



UPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 



Table shelving the population of the various Indian tribes, by super- 
zntendencies, as corrected by the reports of 1866. 



superintendency and 
Agency. 



WASHINGTON. 

Tulalip 

Skokomish 

Makah 

Puyallup 

Quinaelt 

Yakaina 

Fort Colville 

OREGON. 

Umatilla 

Warm Spring 

Grande Ronde 

Alsea 

Siletz 

Klamath 



CALIFORNIA. 

Round Valley 

Hoopa Valley 

Smith River 

Tule River 

Mission Indians . . . 



Papagos 

River Tribes. 



NEVADA. 

Carson City 



UTAH. 

Fort Bridger 



Uintah Valley 



Tribes. 



Tulalips, Lummis, etc 

Sklallams, etc 

Makahs, etc 

Puyallups, Nisquallies, etc 

Quinaelts, Quillehutes, etc 

Yakamas, etc 

Spokanes, Colvilles, Pend d'Oreilles, etc. 



Walla-Wallas, Cayuses, and Umatillas 

Wacoes, Deschutes, etc 

Fifteen tribes and bands 

Cooses, Umpquas, etc 

Fourteen tribes and bands 

Klamaths, Modocs, and four bands of Snakes. 
Other Indians 



Pitt Rivers, Wylackies, Ukies, etc. 

Various bands 

Humboldt and Wylackies 

Owens River and Tule River 

Various bands 

Coahuil las and other tribes 

King River and other bands 



Papagos 5,000, Pimas and Maricopas, 7,500. 

Yuhmas, Mohaves, etc 

Apaches 

Moquis 



Pi-Utes ... 

Washoes . . . 
Bannacks .. 
Shoshonees 



Eastern Shoshones and Bannacks 

North-western Shoshones 

Western Shoshones 

Goships and Weber Utes 

Utahs 

Piedes ^, 

Pah-Utes 



Popula- 
tion. 



1,900 
1,500 
1,400 
2,000 
600 
3,000 
3,400 

14,800 

759 
1,070 
1,144 

530 

2,06S 

4,000 

900 

10,471 

1,889 

623 

625 

725 

3,300 

4,400 

14,900 



25,962 

12,500 
9,500 

10,000 
2,500 

34,500 

4,200 

500 

1,500 

2,000 

8,200 

4,500 
1,800 
2,000 
1,600 
7,100 
600 
1,600 

19.S00 



TABLE. 



317 



superintendence and 
Agency. 


Tribes. 


Popula- 
tion. 


NEW MEXICO. 

Bosque Redondo 




6,500 
1 200 






Pueblos 




7,'oiO 
350 


Abiquiu 








700 


Cimarron 




600 




Jicarilla Apaches 


800 


Mescalero Apache 




550 




Mimbres Apaches 


200 




Captives held in peonage 


2,000 

19,901 

2,500 
2,500 


COLORADO. 
Denver 




Conejos 








DAKOTA. 

Yankton 


5,000 
2 530 


Ponca 




'980 


Upper Missouri Sioux 




1,200 




Lower Yanctonais 

Two Kettles 

Blackfeet 


2,100 
1,200 
1,320 
2,220 
1,800 
2,100 












Ogalallahs 




Upper Yanctonais 


2,400 






1,6S0 

1,500 

400 


Fort Berthold 












400 






2,640 
24,470 
2,830 


IDAHO. 

Nez Perces 








2,000 
500 










2,000 








MONTANA. 


7,330 
558 






918 






287 


Blackfeet 




2,450 
1,870 








Bloods 


2,150 
1,500 










3,900 








NORTHERN. 

Winnebago 


13,033 
1,750 




997 


Ottoe 




511 






2,750 






102 




Iowas 


303 



318 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



stjperintendency and 
Agency. 



Northern (continued). 
Upper Platte 

Santee Sioux (Niobrara) . . . 

CENTRAL. 

Potowatomie *- 

Sac and Fox 

Osage River 

Shawnee 

Delaware 

Kansas 

Kickapoo 

Ottawa 

Kiowa and Comanche 

Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and 
Apache 

SOUTHERN. 

Creek 

Cherokee 

Choctaw and Chickasaw. .. 

Seminole 

Neosho 

Wichitas 



INDEPENDENT AGENCIES. 

Green Bay . 



Chippeways of Mississippi 



Chippeways of L'ke Superior 



Tribes. 



Brule and Ogalallah Sioux 

Cheyennes 

Arapahoes 

Santee Sioux 

Potowatomies 

Sacs and Foxes of Mississippi 

Chippeways and Munsees 

Miamies 

Peorias, Piankeshaws, Kaskaskias, and Weas 

Shawnees 

Delawares 

Kansas or Kaws 

Kickapoos 

Ottawas 

Kiowas and Comanches 

Arapahoes, Cheyennes, and Apaches 

Creeks 

Cherokees 

Choctaws 

Chickasaws 

Seminoles 

Osages 

Quapaws 

Senecas and Shawnees 

Senecas 

Wichitas 

Keechies 

Wacoes 

Tawacairoes . . 

Caddoes and Ionies 

Shawnees .' 

Delawares 

Other Lndians '. 

Stockbridges and Munsees 

Oneidas 

Menominies 

Mississippi bands 

Pillager and Winnebagoshish bands 

Red Lake bands 

Pembina bands 

Various bands 



Popula- 
tion. 



7,865 

1,800 

750 

1,350 

18,178 

1,992 
766 
80 
127 
236 
660 

1,064 
670 
242 
200 

2,800 

4,000 

12,837 

14,396 

14,000 

12,500 

4,500 

2,000 

3,000 

360 

210 

130 

392 

144 

135 

151 

362 

520 

114 

1,000 

53,904 



152 
1,104 
1,376 

2,632 

2,166 

1,809 

1,183 

931 



6,179 
4,500 



TABLE. 



319 



sttperintendency and 
Agency. 



INDEPENDENT AGENCIES 

(continued). 
Wandering bands in Wis- 



Mackinac . 



New York 



Winnebagoes 

Fotowatomies 

Chippeways of Lake Superior 

Ottawas and Chippeways 

.Chippeways of Saginaw, etc 

Chippeways, Ottawas, and Potowatomies 
Fotowatomies of Huron 

Cattaraugus , 

Cayugas with Senecas 

Onondagas with Senecaa 

Allegany 

Tonawandas 

Tuscaroras 

Oneidas 

Oneidas with Onondagas 

Onondagas 

Total 



Popula- 
tion. 



700 
650 



1,058 
5,207 
1,562 



8,105 

1,386 
150 
138 
845 
529 
360 
184 
96 
325 



4,013 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE STATES OF OHIO, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, AND MICHIGAN. 



This word, in French orthography, is the Iroquois name of 
the Alleghony and Ohio rivers, and the French used as an 
equivalent word, " la belle," or the beautiful." According 
to French and Iroquois pronounciation, the i has the sound 
of e long. The word does not include " river," and might 
have been Oheao, or duck, in the Cayuga dialect, and thus 
originally been called by that band, Oheao kihade, or Duck 
river. 

The name of the first white man who discovered the 
State of Ohio is not known, but it was probably the Jesuit 
missionary who, it is said, visited the Eries, or neutral 
nation, from Lake Huron, in 1616. La Salle sailed along 
its shore in 1679; a party of English visited Detroit in 
1686, and Captain De Vincennes, of Canada, was ordered 
to establish a military post among the Miamies in 1697, and 
passed up the Maumee river. 

After the establishment of a military post at Detroit in 
1701, trading posts are often mentioned by French docu- 
ments at Maumee and Sandusky ; and " Sandusky," and 
"Miamies on Maumee," are enumerated in an English 
pamphlet, printed in 1755, as old French military posts. 
They were surrendered to the English in the transfer of 
Canada. The fort at Sandusky was captured by Pontiac, 
May 16th, 1763; but was returned to the English after the 



OHIO. 323 

close of that war. The French also, in 1755, had a trading 
post at the mouth of the Sciota, according to the London 
pamphlet, which was spoken of also in Post's journal. In 
April, 1794, the British built a fort at Maumee rapids, and 
General Wayne, in August of the same year, built Fort 
Defiance at Grand Glaize. 

After the close of the war of the revolution, the United 
States took military possession of the Ohio valley ; and in 
1785 Major Doughty built Fort Harmer, at Marietta, and 
Major Finny, the same year, built Fort Finny, at the mouth 
of the Miami river. 

The primitive soil of Connecticut affording but poor en- 
couragement to their agriculturalists, a plan was originated 
there in March, 1786, to plant a colony on the rich banks of 
the Ohio, and a subscription was begun to raise funds to 
purchase a large tract of land for a New England colony. 
The subscribers to this fund met March 8th, 1787, and 
elected General Parsons, General Rufus Putnam, and Rev. 
Manasseh Cutler, as directors of the colony, which they 
called the Ohio Company. On the 5th of July following, 
Dr. Cutler was sent to New York to negotiate with Con- 
gress, then in session, for the purchase of a tract of land on 
the Ohio, for the settlement. After a large number of 
" manoeuvres," in the classic language of the Puritan divine, 
but in the more descriptive language of the west, " of log 
rolling and bribery," a favorable contract was made, July 
27th, and a plan was arranged for the political organization 
of the north-west. This happy result was chronicled in 
the Rev. Doctor's journal as follows : " By this ordinance 
we obtained the grant of near 5,000,000 acres of land, 
amounting $3,500,000; 1,500,000 acres for the Ohio Com- 
pany, and the remainder for a private speculation, in which 
many of the principal characters of America are concerned. 
Without connecting this speculation, similar terms and 
advantages could not have been obtained for the Ohio 
Company." With this ordinance, Dr. Cutler closed his 
21 



324 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

contract with the Board of Treasury, October 27th, 1788. 
By referring to dates, it will be observed that, July ] 3th, 
1787, the " Ordinance for the government of the Territory 
of the United States north-west of the River Ohio" was 
passed by Congress ; and as Dr. Cutler had the names of 
all the officers of the new territory " in his hat," he, July 
23rd, found himself in a tight place ; and here again, in his 
journal, he tells how he escaped this crisis in his affairs: 
" Having found it impossible to support General Parsons as 
a candidate for governor, after the interest that General 
Arthur St. Clair had secured, I embraced this opportunity 
to declare, that if General Parsons could have the appoint- 
ment of first judge, and Sargent secretary, we should be 
satisfied ; and that I heartily wished his excellency General 
St. Clair might be the governor ; and that I would solicit 
the eastern members in his favor. This I found rather 
pleasing to southern members*" Among the arguments 
which he tells us in his journal he urged with effect, were 
the following : " The uneasiness of the Kentucky people 
with respect to the Mississippi was notorious. A revolt of 
that country from the Union, if a war with Spain took place, 
was universally acknowledged to be highly probable ; and 
most certainly a systematic settlement in that country, con- 
ducted by men thoroughly attached to the federal govern- 
ment, and composed of young, robust, and hardy laborers, 
who had no idea of any other than the Federal government, 
I conceived to be an object worthy of some attention." 

The tract of land which was thus secured was located on 
the north side of the Ohio, and extending from the Sciota 
river east, to the seventh range of townships ; but as poli- 
ticians did not meet their part of the engagement when 
money was required, and even the Ohio Company got short 
of funds, the tract was cut down in 1792 so as to only 
include the country between the seventh and tenth ranges 
of townships, and extending from the Ohio river north so as 
to include 750,000 acres, besides reservations. For this tract 



OHIO. 325 

the Ohio Company was to pay one dollar per acre, deduct- 
ing one-third of the whole tract for waste land. 

Pursuant to this plan for a colony, General Rufus Putnam, 
as superintendent, set out with forty-seven emigrants, soon 
after the 1st of January, 1788, and reached the site of 
Marietta April 7th of that year, having traveled by way of 
Cumberland, Maryland. 

Governor St. Clair received his appointment as governor 
October 5th, 1787, and reached Marietta July 9th of the 
following year ; and on the 27th of July, by proclamation, 
organized the new county of Washington. The second 
county, Hamilton, including the new settlement at Cincin- 
nati, was not organized until January 2nd, 1790. Cincinnati 
was made a town January 2nd, 1 802, and a city by charter 
in 1 81 9. Notwithstanding the Indian war, settlers continued 
to flock to the north side of the Ohio, of which many came 
from Kentucky; and in 1800, Congress set off the Indian 
territory. 

By an Act of Congress, passed April 30th, 1802, Ohio 
was permitted to call a convention to form a State constitu- 
tion. The constitution was adopted, in convention, Novem- 
ber 29th, 1802, and Ohio became a member of the Union 
February 19th of the following year. 

By the census of 1800, Ohio was found to contain 45,365 
inhabitants. From this time the increase was rapid, and it 
contained, in 1810, 230,760; 1820,581,295; 1830,937,903; 
1840, 1,519,467; 1850, 1,980,329; and in 1860, 2,339,502. 
From a comparison with the population of other States, it 
appears that Ohio became the third State in the Union in 
1840, in population, which position it held in 1860, New 
York and Pennsylvania only exceeding it. 

For educational purposes, Congress has donated to the 
State 675,094 acres for public schools, and 24,320 acres for 
colleges. In 1863, the permanent school fund amounted to 
$2,879,379, yielding an annual interest of $173,712. In 



326 UPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 

addition to this, there was raised by State taxes for school 
purposes, $1,155,221 ; and by local taxes, $1,021,012. 

In 1857, 838,037 children between the ages of five and 
twenty-one were enumerated, of which the average daily 
attendance at school was 350,867. In 1862, the enumera- 
tion was 920,820 ; and average daily attendance at school, 
433,343. 

In 1862 there were common schools, 14,728; high 
schools, 144; German and English schools, 108; and 
colored schools, 172; total, 15,152. The same year there 
were employed 10,459 male, and 10,931 female teachers; 
total, 21,390. 

Ohio has also the following State institutions ; four Insane 
Asylums, a Reform School, Institution for the Education 
of the Blind, Institution for Deaf and Dumb, Asylum for 
Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, and State Penitentiary. 

In November, 1863, Ohio had twenty-four colleges and 
universities, which belonged as follows : three to the State, 
one to the Presbyterians, new school, one to the Presbyte- 
rians, old school, two to Presbyterians and Congregational- 
ists, one to the Episcopalians, one to the Baptists, one to 
the Congregationalists, three to the Catholics, four to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, two to Methodists, two to 
Evangelical Lutherans, one New Jerusalem church, one, 
Christian, and one United Brethren in Christ. The aggre- 
gate number of students in all the institutions, was about 
3,300. 

The newspaper, according to modern civilization, travels 
with the emigrant ; hence we find, as early as July 29, 1786, 
the " Pittsburg Gazette," christened as the first child in that 
family in the upper Mississippi valley. With no violation 
of the course of nature, the second child in that family was 
christened the "Kentucky Gazette," at Lexington, in August, 
1789 ; while " The Sentinel of the North-western Territory," 
at Cincinnati, November 9, 1793, which was changed to 
" Freeman's Journal" in 1796 ; and the " Western Spy and 



INDIANA. 327 

Hamilton Gazette," also at Cincinnati, of May 28, 1799; all 
succeeding each other in the period of nearly three years ; 
these certainly established their right to the name of " peri- 
odical literature." 

This good name must not have been lost, for in Ohio 
alone, in 1810, we find there were fourteen weekly papers; 
while in 1828 the number had increased to sixty-six. 

The census of 1840 gave them 9 daily, 107 weekly, 7 
semi-weekly papers, and 20 periodicals ; total, 143. In 
1850, Ohio had 26 dailies, with the annual circulation of 
14,285,633; 10 tri-weeklies, with a circulation of 1,047,930; 
201 weeklies, with a circulation of 13,334,204. They 
had also 23 semi-monthly, with an annual circulation of 
1,781,640; 1 monthly, with circulation of 24,000; total, 261. 
Total number of copies printed annually, 30,473,407. 

In 1860 the census report shows: Political, 22 daily, 4 
bi-weekly, 8 tri- weekly, 219 weekly, and 3 monthly; total, 
256. Religious, 27 weekly, 8 monthly, 2 annually ; total, 37 ; 
Literary, 1 daily, 6 weekly, 17 monthly; total, 24. Miscel- 
laneous, 1 daily, 8 weekly, 13 monthly, 1 annual; total, 23. 

The total number of copies circulated annually, was 
71,767,742. 

INDIANA. 

The Rev. Father James Marquette, and his party, were 
probably the first white persons who visited any part of the 
territory of Indiana. 

Returning from the newly-established mission of " the 
Immaculate Conception," among the Kaskaskias, Father 
Marquette passed up the Kankakee, across the portage, and 
down the St. Joseph's river to Lake Michigan, about the 
first of May, 1675; but died on the 17th day of the same 
month, before he reached Mackinaw, of chronic diarrhoea, a 
disease he contracted two years previous, while exploring 
the Mississippi, 

The second party of white persons who visited Indiana, 



328 TTPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 

was that of La Salle, which passed down the Kankakee 
river in December, 1679, on their way to explore the Missis- 
sippi. 

In 1697, Captain De Vincennes was ordered by the 
Governor of Canada, with a small military force, to the 
Miamies on the Wabash, who established post Vincennes. 
He was popular among the Miamies, and remained the most 
of the time until his death there in 1719. His post was 
called Fort Vincennes after 1720, and was continued a 
trading-post as long as the Indians remained in the country. 

By the act of Congress of July 13, 1787, Indiana was 
included in the territory north-west of the Ohio, but was 
made a separate territory May 7, 1800. In April, 1816, 
Congress passed an act authorizing Indiana to form a State 
government. On the 29th of June, of the same year, the 
people adopted a State constitution, and December 11, 1816, 
the State of Indiana was admitted into the Union of States. 

While Indiana was an Indian territory, Congress, by an 
act approved March 26, 1804, established three land offices 
in the territory : one at Detroit, one at Vincennes, and one 
at Kaskaskia. 

For the disposal of the lands along the Ohio river, between 
Vincennes and Cincinnati districts, a new land office was 
established at Jeffersonville by the act of the 3rd of March, 
1807. By the act of the 3rd of March, 1819, additional land 
offices were established at Brookville and Terre Haute ; and 
by the act of May 8, 1822, an additional office was estab- 
lished at Fort Wayne. By the act of March 2, 1833, another 
land office was established at La Porte, which in December, 
1839, was removed to Winamac. 

By the act of 1816, authorizing Indiana to form a consti- 
tution for a State government, Congress gave the new State 
the sixteenth section in each township for schools ; all the 
salt springs, including the lands not exceeding thirty-six 
sections ; five per cent, of the net proceeds of the sales of 
the public lands lying in said State ; two townships of land 



INDIANA. 329 

for a seminary of learning ; and four sections of land as a 
site for the seat of government. 

By the census of 1840, Indiana was reported as then 
having 1,521 primary schools, with 48,189 scholars; 54 
academies, with 2,946 scholars ; and 4 colleges and univer- 
sities, with 322 students. In 1850 the school fund was 
estimated at $3,628,215. There were, in 1851, 5,899 schools, 
and 225,318 scholars. In 1850, Indiana was reported by 
the census as having 4 colleges, with 295 students ; 1 theo- 
logical school, with 15 students; 2 medical schools, with 154 
students; and 2 law schools, with 18 students. 

In 1862, the common school fund was estimated at the 
value of $4,991,202. The whole number of children between 
five and twenty-one years, was 528,583; school districts, 
7,921 ; number of schools taught, 5,995 ; number of high 
schools, 103; number of pupils attending primary schools, 
273,450 ; number attending high schools, 7,318 ; number of 
private schools, 1,932 ; number of pupils attending private 
schools, 39,658. 

The Hospital for the Blind, Institution for the Educa- 
tion of the Deaf and Dumb, and the Hospital for the 
Insane, all at Indianapolis, are flourishing institutions. 
In 1863, Indiana had thirteen colleges and universities, 
which belonged as follows : One to the State, two to the 
Presbyterians, four to the Methodists, two to the Baptists, 
one to the United Brethren in Christ, one to the Evangelical 
Lutherans, one to the Catholics, and one to the Christians, 
with an aggregate of 1,810 students. The Catholics and 
Lutherans had each a Theological School. 

The population of 1800, which included Detroit, Kas- 
kaskia, Prairie Du Chien, Green Bay and Mackinaw, and 
all the Indian territory, was enumerated in the census at 
4,875. The census of 1810 gave a population of 24,520 for 
Indiana, without including Illinois or Michigan, as those 
regions had previously been set into new territories. In 
21* 



330 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

1820 there were 147,178; 1830, 343,031; 1840, 685,866; 
1850, 988,416 ; and 1860, 1,350,428. 

In 1810, Indiana had one weekly newspaper, which circu- 
lated during the year 15,600 copies. In 1828, the number 
had increased to 17. By the census of 1840, there were 4 
semi-weekly, 69 weekly, and 3 periodical papers. 

The census of 1850 shows that the number had increased 
to 9 daily, 2 tri-weekly, 95 weekly, and 1 semi-monthly ; 
total, 107, with a total annual circulation of 4,316,828 
copies. These papers were classified as 21 literary, 84 
political, and 2 religious. 

In 1860, Indiana had the following papers : Political, 
13 daily, 5 bi-weekly, 154 weekly; total, 172. Religious, 3 
weekly, and 3 monthly ; total, 6. Literary, 3 weekly, 2 
monthly ; total, 5. Miscellaneous, 3 monthly. The aggre- 
gate circulation of these papers, per annum, was 10,090,310. 



We have seen that Sieur Joliette, with Marquette, were 
the first to explore Illinois, by passing down the Mississippi 
in June, 1673, and returning north by the Illinois river and 
Lake Michigan. 

Agreeably to a promise made to the Kaskaskia Indians, 
Marquette started from Green Bay, October 25, 1674, to 
return and establish a mission amongst them, but was 
detained by sickness during the winter at Chicago, and only 
succeeded in reaching the Kaskaskias, on the Illinois river, 
April 8, 1675. Here his stay was short, as he continued to 
grow weaker ; and he died on his way to Mackinaw, May 
17th, of the same year. 

The Rev. Father Allouez, the honored founder of the 
Wisconsin missions, left Green Bay in' October, 1676, to 
renew the mission at Illinois, but winter setting in earlier 
than expected, he only reached the Kaskaskias April 27, of 
the following year. 

Here he found congregated eight tribes, of whom he 



ILLINOIS. 331 

baptized thirty -five children and a sick adult. He continued 
in charge of this mission until near the time of the arrival 
of La Salle, when he retired to Green Bay, fearing the hos- 
tility of La Salle to the Jesuits. La Salle and his party 
descended the Kankakee river from St. Joseph's, and 
reached the site of the Indian village on the Illinois at the 
" Rock," near the close of December, 1679; but as the 
Indians were further down the river, he, January 1, pushed 
on, and on the 4th day of that month, found the tribe at the 
head of Pimiteoui, "or lake of plenty of fat beasts," since 
called Lake Peoria, where he built Fort Crevecceur, or 
" heart-breaking," so named on account of their many dis- 
appointments. 

Rev. Father St. Cosme, who passed down the Illinois 
river in 1699, spoke of an "old fort," built by La Salle, at 
the upper village of the Indians, on a M rock which is on the 
bank of the river, about a hundred feet high," which La 
Salle " abandoned." If so, La Salle might have built a 
temporary fort during the few days that he- remained at the 
deserted Indian village, but there is no mention of it by his 
historian. 

Fort Crevecoeur was made the head-quarters of the 
French missions for many years. About 1700 the Kaskas- 
kias removed down, and settled at the mouth of Kaskaskia 
river, with their missionaries, leaving the Peorias at the 
lake. About 1722, the Peorias and other bands, at the Rock 
and Peoria lake, being pressed hard in their wars with the 
Foxes and their allies, also settled on the Mississippi near 
the Kaskaskias. The congregating of so many Indians 
near the mouth of the Kaskaskia river, induced the French 
to build a strong fort a few miles above the mouth of that 
river, in 1720, which they called Fort Chartres. This fort 
was strongly built of stone masonry. In the article for its 
surrender in 1765, it was described as eighteen feet high, 
and 334|- toises in circumference. The south side, fronting 
the Mississippi, was 80^ toises. The fort was pierced with 



332 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

204 loop-holes. Besides the fort, there were the guard- 
house, government house, intendant's house, barracks, 
powder-house, bake-house, prison, and store, all built with 
stone, with " windows in cut stone, with shutters, iron- 
work," etc. 

Fort Chartres was the center of French power and mis- 
sionary labors on the upper Mississippi, until the surrender 
of Canada to the English in 1760. The fort was finally 
surrendered to the English, October 10, 1765, and it was 
held by them until it was partly undermined by the river 
about 1771, and abandoned by the English. The English 
had another fort above Kaskaskia, which Colonel Clark 
captured July 4, 1778; after which the French settlements 
at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, near the Mississippi, became a 
part of Virginia, and that State, in October of the same 
year, organized the country north-west of the Ohio into the 
county of Illinois. Thus continued the political affairs of the 
north-west, until the passage of "An ordinance for the gov- 
ernment of the territory of the United States north-west of 
the river Ohio," July 13, 1787. May 7, 1800, Illinois was 
included with Indiana, and the territory north, in the 
"Indian Territory." In 1809, Illinois was made a separate 
territory, and August 26, 1818, formed a constitution, and 
December 3rd, of the same year, was admitted into the 
Union by a special act of Congress. 

After the close of the revolutionary war, American emi- 
grants occasionally passed the Ohio to the Indian territory, 
and in 1810 Illinois numbered 12,282, including the old 
French villages. In 1820 they had increased to 55,162, 
including 917 slaves. In 1830, 157,445; 1840, 476,183; 
1850, 851,470; 1860, 1,711,951. The first American settlers 
w r ere mainly from the slave-holding States, and many 
brought with them their negro slaves, notwithstanding the 
prohibition in the ordinance of 1787. These slaves num- 
bered 331 in the census of 1840, but disappear before that 
of 1850. These settlers generally remained in the south 




iiK UiS'iY.EK.SiXY Ui' L-liiCiUiO. 



ILLINOIS. 335 

part of the State. After the Black Hawk war in 1832, 
emigration commenced entering the State by way of the 
lakes, and in 1837 the great tide was setting in heavily, and 
soon overspread the great prairies of the north. 

By the act authorizing Illinois to form a State constitu- 
tion, Congress donated to the State, for school purposes, the 
sixteenth section in each township, and three per cent, of 
the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands in the State 
after 1819 ; and for a seminary of learning, two entire town- 
ships, or seventy-two sections of land. In 1850, the perma- 
nent school fund amounted to $790,120 ; the Seminary fund, 
$58,788 ; and the State University fund, $90,889. Illinois 
has an excellent system for public education. In addition 
to her public State institutions, individual enterprise and 
benevolence have given her several excellent academies and 
colleges. 

In 1862, there were in Illinois, 9,811 public schools, and 
516,037 scholars attending those schools; 720 private 
schools, and 22,577 scholars. In 1864, Illinois had fifteen 
colleges and universities, three of which belonged to the 
State, four to the Methodists, two to the Baptists, one to the 
Presbyterians, new school, one to the Catholics, one to the 
United Presbyterians, one to the Presbyterians and Congre- 
gationalists, one to the Evangelical Lutherans, and one to 
the Universalists. These, in the aggregate, had 2,203 
students. One of the most prosperous of these institutions 
is the University of Chicago, founded by the late Senator 
S. A. Douglas, in 1855, and now belonging to the Baptist 
denomination. 

In 1862, the entire educational funds belonging to the 
State were $4,973,842, the interest of which, with the annual 
taxes levied, are expended for the different educational 
institutions belonging to the State. 

Newspapers were not a very early institution in Illinois, 
as there were none in 1810, and but four weekly papers in 
1828. In 1840, there were three dailies, two semi-weeklies, 



336 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

thirty-eight weeklies, and nine called " periodicals." In 
1850, the number had increased to eight daily, four tri- 
weekly, eighty-four weekly, three semi-monthly, seven 
monthly, and one quarterly, with an aggregate circulation 
of 5,102,270 per annum. In 1860, the census showed, 
political papers : twenty-three daily, one bi-weekly, six tri- 
weekly, two hundred and twenty-eight weekly, and one 
monthly. Of religious papers, there were five weekly and 
six monthly. Literary, three weekly and five monthly ; and 
miscellaneous, one bi-weekly, two weekly, and five monthly, 
with an aggregate circulation per annum of 27,464,764. 

MICHIGAN. 

The name of this State is abbreviated from two Chippeway 
words, Miehau, or Misho, great, and Sakiegan, a lake, and 
literally means the great lake. The territory of this State 
was probably first visited by Sir Jean Nicolet, the Canadian 
interpreter, who appears to have visited the Winnebagoes 
at Green Bay in 1639. Rev. Fathers Joques and Raymbaut, 
Jesuit missionaries, next appear to have passed along the 
north shore of lake Huron, and visited the falls of St. Mary 
in 1641, where Rev. Fathers Dablon and Marquette estab- 4 
lished a missionary station in 1669, which must be regarded 
as the first permanent settlement of the State ; leaving Wis- 
consin as the older State in point of settlement by four 
years. Mackinaw was made a missionary station by Mar- 
quette, in 1671, and the Canadian government raised it to a 
military post in 1688, and built a fort. In the mean time 
the Detroit, or straits between Lakes Huron and Erie, had 
been explored by Indian traders ; and La Salle sailed from 
Niagara to Green Bay in the " Griffin," in 1679; and in 
1687 the Canadian government built Fort St. Joseph, or De 
Lut, at the foot of Lake Huron, in Michigan ; La Durantaye, 
in the name of the French king, having taken formal pos- 
session of all the east coast of the State June 7th of the 
same year. 



MICHIGAN. 337 

La Salle, in November, 1679, built Fort La Salle, at the 
mouth of a river in the south-western part of the State, 
which was afterwards changed, probably by Allouez, the 
missionary at that point, to St. Joseph's. 

Fort Pontchartrain was built by the Canadian govern- 
ment in 1701, at the present site of the city of Detroit, 
which laid the foundation of that enterprising city of the 
west. This point thus became the head quarters of the 
Indian trade in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and for many 
years following. Its history has been given in the Indian 
wars in previous chapters. 

By an Act of Congress, approved January 11th, 1805, all 
that part of the then Indian territory lying north of a line 
running east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, 
was organized with a territorial government under the name 
of "Michigan Territory." By an Act in 1818, the present 
territory of Wisconsin was attached to Michigan, and 
remained so attached until 1836, when it was also organized 
into a territorial government. 

Without any enabling Act of Congress, the territory of 
Michigan held a convention and formed a State constitution, 
but its admission was long opposed in Congress ; and they 
were finally compelled to surrender a part of their territory 
on the south, and in lieu thereof take the upper or Lake 
Superior peninsula ; and after so amending their constitu- 
tion, they were admitted as a State by an Act of Congress, 
approved January 26th, 1837. 

The new State received from Congress the grant of 
seventy-two sections, or square miles of land, as an endow- 
ment of a university ; the sixteenth section in each six miles 
square for the support of common schools. 

In 1850 Michigan had 3,097 common schools, and 132,233 
children between the ages of four and eighteen which 
attended school during the year. Besides these, there were 
2,056 under four, and 8,346 over eighteen, which attended 
school. The public money, or interest of the school fund, 
22 



338 TJPPEE MISSISSIPPI. 

that year distributed was $42,794.44 ; in addition to which, 
there were raised by tax to pay teachers, $81,392.44. To 
this, if we add funds raised to build school-houses, library 
funds, etc., we have a total paid out for schools during the 
year of $194,330.78. 

In 1855 the number of scholars attending school were 
142,307 ; and the number of teachers, 1,600 male, and 3,474 
female. In 1860, the total number of scholars over four 
and under eighteen years of age were 240,684 ; number of 
scholars attending school, 192,937; number of teachers 
2,599 male, and 5,344 female. 

In 1862 the whole number of children over five and under 
twenty years of age were 261,323; number attending 
school, 207,332, with 2,380 male teachers and 5,958 female. 

The State Normal School, at Ypsilanti, was opened for 
students in April, 1853, and in 1862 had 407 students in the 
normal department, and 86 in the model school. Students 
pledge themselves to teach in the State schools after they 
graduate. 

The University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, was opened 
in 1837, and their endowment funds from the seventy-two 
sections granted by Congress amounted in 1862 to $525,000, 
from the interest of which the University is mainly sup- 
ported. A medical department was added in 1850, and a 
law department in 1859. It has also a fine astronomical 
department. In 1862 the University had, in the depart- 
ment of literature, 270 students; department of medicine, 
216; and department of law, 129. 

In 1857 Michigan founded a " State Agricultural Col- 
lege," at Lansing, and has now assigned to it the land 
granted by Congress to agricultural colleges. It has a farm 
of seven hundred acres, together with a fine laboratory, 
library, museum, etc. Students are required to labor on 
the farm three hours daily. 

Besides these, there are the " State Reform School," at 
Lansing ; the " Michigan Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb 



MICHIGAN. 339 

and Blind," at Flint; the "Asylum for the Insane," at 
Kalamazoo ; and State Prison, at Jackson. All these insti- 
tutions are doing a good work in their several departments 
of education and discipline. In addition to these State 
institutions, there are many private schools and academies, 
supported by private benevolence, and three colleges, viz. : 
Kalamazoo College, founded in 1833 by the Baptists; Hills- 
dale College, founded in 1853 by the Freewill Baptists; and 
the Albion College, founded in 1862 by the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, having for several years previous been an 
academy. All these are owned by the denominations 
founding them. 

The population of Michigan has been steadily progressive. 
There were, in 1810, 4,762; 1820, 8,765; 1830, 31,639; 
1840,212,267; 1850; 397,654; and 1860, 749,113. 

Newspapers were a luxury in which Michigan did not 
early indulge. None had greeted them in 1810; and but 
two in 1828. The writer has not the date of the first paper, 
but the " Detroit Gazette" was being published as early at 
least as May, 1819. In 1840 they could boast of having 6 
daily, 26 weekly, and 1 magazine. In 1850 the census gave 
the State 3 daily, 2 tri-weekly, 47 weekly, 3 semi-monthly, 
and 3 monthly publications; total 58, with an aggregate 
circulation for the year of 3,247,736. 

In 1860, the papers had increased to : Political, 8 daily, 
3 bi-weekly, 1 tri-weekly, 96 weekly, 1 monthly; total, 109. 
Religious, 3 weekly, 1 monthly; total, 4. Literary, 3 
weekly. Miscellaneous, 1 weekly and 1 monthly. The 
aggregate circulation per annum was 11,606,596. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



WISCONSIN. 



In writing of the introduction of civilization into the north- 
west, we have no fables to relate to prepossess the minds 
of a credulous generation, that our country has been spe- 
cially favored by Deity ; but, like the French commandant 
at Detroit, when attacked by the Indians, we don't " know 
on what Saint to call," and when driven to the necessity of 
making a selection, we are perfectly at liberty to take St. 
George of England, St. Andrew of Scotland, St. Patrick of 
Ireland, or St. Xavier of Japan, with full assurance that 
either of them will be equally serviceable to us in our 
necessities. 

But if the day of Saints had passed away at the time of 
the advent of the whites to our shores, the day of imposi- 
tion had not, and if the reader had been standing on the 
Jfoke-kaw-shoots-raw, or red earth banks of Green Bay, 
in the summer of 1639, there might probably have been 
seen advancing, in a pompous procession of Hurons and 
O-chunk-o-raws, a Frenchman, dressed in a long, full robe 
of china damask, covered over with flowers and birds of 
all colors, and carrying a pistol in each hand. To the 
reader, such a pompous display of brilliant colors would 
have excited only a smile of contempt ; but not so with the 
untutored savage. The timid Enog-ga-raw, and her little 
flock of Nink-sing-in-graws, screamed, " Wau-kon-ga-raw /" 
or the " spirit man," and fled to the shelter of their wig- 

UjL •, i 



WISCONSIN. 341 

warns, while the dusky warrior, whose courage of a hundred 
battles, welling up in his soul until it sparkled in his brilliant 
eyes, with his hands firmly grasping his bow and tomahawk, 
looked on with profound silence. 

The message delivered was " Peace " — a fit message to 
be always borne by civilization. Peace between the great 
Huron, Iroquois and Algonquin nations. Perhaps the 
reader imagines this message was received by the old war- 
riors with scorn and contempt, but they mistake even the 
Indian character. It was received with great joy. The 
news spread through the surrounding country, and soon 
after, an assembly of 4,000 or 5,000 of different nations 
came together, and great feasts were given by the chiefs, 
one of which served up six score beaver at a single banquet. 
Here were the O-chunk-o-raws, " sedentary and very 
numerous ; " the proud Illinois, or " The Men ; " the bold 
and warlike Dakotas, or the confederates ; and the wander- 
ing Potowatomies, a stray band of Algonquins ; all rejoicing 
with the Frenchman, at the temporary peace among a por- 
tion of the tribes that lived along the great lakes, foolishly 
thinking that a peace proclaimed by such a wonderful man 
would be permanent, and that thereafter their slumbers 
would not be broken by the murderous tomahawk. But 
this delusion was nearly fatal to the O-chunk-o-raws, who 
were nearly exterminated the following year by the Illinois, 
and but two years after, the Potowatomies fled to Lake 
Superior, from the victorious Dakotas. 

War is generated among barbarous nations precisely as 
among civilized. Aggressions are committed by a few 
malicious and discontented persons ; retaliation follows, 
when the war cry is raised, and but few have the moral 
power to resist its potent influence. Blood flows freely 
until the original instigators are destroyed, or the people 
become satiated with revenge. Christianity is the only 
power that can be brought to oppose war ; but, alas ! this 



342 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

has often proved too weak to calm the baser passions of our 
human natures. 

The Frenchman whom I have introduced was Sieur Jean 
Nicolet, the Huron and Algonquin interpreter for the gov- 
ernment of Canada. The governor of that colony, having 
heard of the " Gens de Mer" whom the Algonquins called 
Winnebagoue, or men of the Salt water, conceived the idea 
of exploring their country, and dispatched Sieur Nicolet for 
that purpose. He passed to the Hurons, took seven of that 
tribe as an escort, and coasted Lake Huron to the Winne- 
bagoes, on the Green Bay. Here he concluded a treaty of 
peace with several tribes, and on his return, having reported 
" that had he sailed three days more on a great river which 
flows from that lake (Green Bay) he would have found the 
sea," it has been inferred that he reached the Wisconsin 
river, and was the first Frenchman that floated on the 
waters of the upper Mississippi. 

The exact time of this exploration is not given in the 
Jesuit records ; but, having been first spoken of in their 
Relations for 1639 and 1640, it is believed that it took place 
the former year. 

Sieur Nicolet continued in the service of the Canadian 
government until October 31st, 1642, when he was capsized 
in a storm, near Quebec, and drowned. Thus perished 
the discoverer of Wisconsin, leaving but a paragraph of 
history. 

Soon after Sieur Nicolet visited Green Bay, the Iroquois 
renewed their war against the western tribes, and the writer 
finds no record of any other white person having visited 
Wisconsin until the winter of 1659-60, when two French- 
men, probably from Kewenaw bay, Lake Superior, visited 
the Tionontaties, on the head waters of Black river, " six 
days' journey towards the south-west;" and again, in the 
spring of 1661, Father Rene Menard, a Jesuit missionary, 
dispatched three Frenchmen from St. Theresa bay (probably 



Wisconsin. 343 

Kewenaw bay,) who found the " poor tribe of Hurons" far 
down the Black river, nearly in a state of starvation. 

Finally, the good Father Menard, aged and infirm, with 
his lay assistant, Jean Guerin, left St. Theresa bay, June 
13th, 1661, to visit the poor nation of Hurons far down the 
Black river, — lost his way in passing the portage, probably 
at Black River falls, August 10th, 1661, and perished in the 
woods. 

After the death of Father Menard, his lay assistant, Jean 
Guerin, returned to St. Theresa bay, Lake Superior, and 
continued his missionary labors until October, 1662, when 
he was accidentally killed by the discharge of a gun. 

But these misfortunes only quickened the missionary 
spirit of the zealous Jesuits, and, August 8th, 1665, found 
Father Claude Allouez embarking at " Three Rivers," 
Canada, with six Frenchmen and four hundred returning 
savages for Lake Superior. 

The long, serpent-like flotilla of bark canoes slowly passed 
up the Ottawa river, in Canada, coursed the north shore of 
Lake Huron, passed the Falls of St. Mary, danced over the 
boisterous waves of the south shore of Lake Superior; and 
finally the tiny fleet was safely moored on the sandy beach 
of the main land, at the foot of what the Indians called 
" Chagouamigong" bay, in Wisconsin, October 1st, 1665. 
Here the pious Father established the mission of " The Holy 
Ghost," erected a chapel and cabins, and entered upon his 
great work ; while his no less industrious French associates 
opened their little shops of Indian trinkets, and bartered for 
furs with the dusky natives. 

But the good Father and his little party were unconsci- 
ously doing a still greater work. They were commencing 
the first settlement, and laying the foundations of the 
present flourishing, christian, and commercial State of Wis- 
consin. This proved a very important post to the French 
until the spring of 1671, when they and their Indian allies 



344 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

were driven out by the brave Dakotas, on whose territory 
they were trespassers. 

For a few years the Dakotas held undisturbed possession 
of the shore of Lake Superior ; but, in 1679, the adventurous 
De Lut visited the south-west coast of that lake, made 
peace with the Dakotas and Christinaux, and set up the 
arms of the king of France at three distant points ; and in 
June of 1680, with two canoes, one Indian, and four French- 
men, passed up the St. Louis river, and down the Rum 
river to the Mississippi, where he redeemed Father Henne- 
pin from captivity, and conducted him to Mackinaw, by 
the way of the Wisconsin river. 

A military post was established at Chegouamigong Point, 
under the charge of Lesueur, in 1692. From that time 
to the present, it is believed that that point, or " La Point," 
on Madeline island, has been occupied by the white traders, 
and most of the time as a military post. 

At the close of the Iroquois war, in 1666, many of the 
savages having left Chegouamigong bay, at Lake Superior, 
and the Foxes, Sacs, Mascotens, Kickapoos and Potowa- 
tomies, having returned to Green Bay and the Fox and 
Wisconsin rivers, Father Allouez resolved to follow them, 
and establish a church in that region. Consequently, on 
the 3rd of November, 1669, we find the good Father setting 
out from the Falls of St. Mary, Lake Superior, with two 
companions, for Green Bay. As the Father said : " Two 
canoes of Pouteouatamis wishing to take me to their country, 
not that I might instruct them, they having no disposition 
to receive the faith, but to mollify some young Frenchmen, 
who were among them for the purpose of trading, and who 
threatened and ill-treated them." On the second day, " the 
difficulties of the route, in consequence of the lateness of the 
season," induced them to " have recourse to Saint Francis 
Xavier, the patron of the mission," and on the fifth day they 
were involved in snow, delayed six days by bad weather ; 
and finally he said : " The snow and frost menacing us with 



WISCONSIN. 345 

ice, my companions had recourse to Saint Anne, to whom we 
recommended our voyage, praying her, with Saint Francois 
Xavier, to take us under their protection." On the eleventh, 
near the Island of Mackinaw, they found two Frenchmen, 
with Indians, on the main land, and doubled in safety the 
cape south-west of that island. " Finally, after many diffi- 
culties," said the Father, " our navigation came to a close 
on the 2nd of December, the eve of the clay of Saint Francois 
Xavier, by our arrival at the place where the Frenchmen 
were, who aided us to celebrate the festival with all the 
solemnity that was possible. The next day I celebrated the 
holy mass, at which the Frenchmen, to the number of eight, 
performed their devotions." 

Here Father Allouez found one village of six hundred 
souls, composed of " Ousaki, Pouteouatamis, Outagami, 
and Ouenibigoutz," in which he soon commenced teaching, 
and named it the " Mission of Saint Francois Xavier. V The 
location of this Indian village was on Fox river, near the 
bay. 

For what length of time these six Frenchmen had occu- 
pied the point as a trading post previous to the arrival of 
the Jesuit Father, we have no intimation. They may have 
come in the summer of 1666, immediately after the con- 
clusion of the peace with the Iroquois ; but it is more 
probable that they commenced trade at the bay in the 
spring of 1669. But from the arrival of the Jesuit Fathers 
its importance as a trading post was established, and from 
that time may be dated its permanent settlement, thirty 
years after it was first visited by Sieur Nicolet, the Canadian 
interpreter. 

From this date, the French appeared to make special 
efforts to press westward missionaries and the trade in furs, 
and finally, June 14th, 1671, at the Falls of St. Mary, in 
presence of large numbers of the Bay and Lake Superior 
savages, took solemn and formal " possession of the said 
place of St. Mary of the Falls, as well as of Lakes Huron and 
22* 



346 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Superior, the Island of Caientolon, and all other countries, 
rivers, lakes, and tributaries, contiguous and adjacent 
thereto, as well discovered as to be discovered, which are 
bounded on the one side by the northern and western seas, 
and on the other side by the south sea, including all its 
length or breadth; in the name of the most high, most 
mighty, and most redoubtable monarch Louis, the XIV. 
of the Christian name, king of France and Navarre." 

These imposing ceremonies were had under the personal 
supervision of " Sieur De St. Lusson, commissioner sub- 
delegate of my lord the intendant of New France, to search 
for the copper mine . . . near Lake Superior;" and 
were witnessed by the Rev. Fathers Dablon, Drouillets, 
Allouez, and Andre, " all of the company of Jesus ; Sieur 
Nicholas Perrot, his majesty's interpreter in these parts;" 
Sieur Jollyet, and fourteen other Frenchmen. 

The desire so often expressed to explore the Mississippi, 
finally induced Comte De Frontenac, the Governor of 
Canada, to appoint for that service Sieur Jollyet, a young 
man born in Canada, and well acquainted with the Ottawa 
language, having resided with them several years ; and 
assigned as his assistant Father James Marquette, of Mack- 
inaw, who had fitted himself for the position by the study 
of the language of the Illinois while in charge of the mission 
of the Holy Ghost, at Lake Superior. The party, consisting 
of the two named, with five Frenchmen, embarked in two 
bark canoes from the mission of St. Ignatius, at Mackinaw, 
on the 17th of May, 1673. They passed by way of Green 
Bay and the Wisconsin portage, and reached the Mississippi 
the 17th of June, precisely one month after they left Mack- 
inaw. They descended the river to the " Akansea" tribe, 
in about the 34° of latitude, and started on their return, 
July 17th, by way of the Illinois river and Chicago, and 
reached Green Bay the last of September. 

The exact time at which a military post at Prairie Du 
Chien was established, has been the subject of much specu- 



WISCONSIN. 347 

lation, some putting it as late as 1775, while it is stated in a 
report of a committee in Congress to have occurred in 1755, 
which was the year following the reconciliation of the 
French and Sacs and Foxes. The latter date may be true, 
as the French surrendered Canada to the English in 1760, 
and the French made no pretensions to occupy the upper 
Mississippi after the abandonment of their fort at Lake 
Pepin, and the renewal of the'Fox war in 1728 ; and in fact, 
the French trade to the Mississippi was nearly ruined from 
and after their barbarous massacre of the Foxes at Detroit 
in 1712. 

But there must have been a French fort at or near Prairie 
Du Chien at a much earlier period. That it was at Prairie 
Du Chien is more than probable, as that has always been a 
point of general resort for the savages, and the " Mound- 
Builders" before them. The evidence of this early occupa- 
tion is found in the document of the taking possession of 
the Mississippi valley in the name of the French king, by 
" Nicholas Perot, commanding for the king at the post of 
the Nadoue Sioux," " at the post of St. Anthony, May 8th, 
1689," to which documents, among other names of wit- 
nesses, was " Monsr. De Borie-Guillot, commanding the 
French in the neighborhood of Ouiskonche, on the Missis- 
sippi." 

Indeed, as early as 1686, the Governor of Canada, in his 
dispatch to the king, speaks of having received letters 
" from the upper Mississippi, where they propose wonders 
to me, were I to establish posts for the missions, and for the 
beavers which abound there." In reply, March 8, 1688, the 
king ordered the governor to send men to formally take 
possession of the country of the lakes and the Illinois, " in 
order to render incontestable his majesty's right." From 
these data, we may safely infer that the country about 
Prairie Du Chien was occupied as a French post, at least as 
early as the 20th of April, 1689, and possibly the previous 
fall. 



348 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

But if the country was occupied as early as 1689, it does 
not follow that its occupation was continuous, for the Sacs, 
Foxes and kindred tribes were at war with the Sioux, from 
their first settlement on the Wisconsin river about 1655, to 
their peace with the Sioux about 1*701 ; and as the French 
traders with the Sioux continued to sell powder, balls, guns, 
and other articles contraband of war, to that tribe, against 
the repeated remonstrance of the Foxes, their traders were 
often plundered by the latter tribe and their allies. 

Neither did the condition of affairs improve on the alli- 
ance of the Sacs, Foxes, and Sioux, in 1701, as war was 
immediately commenced by the allies against the Chippe- 
ways and their allies of Lake Superior and the northern 
country, which continued with slight intermission until the 
reconciliation between the Foxes of the Wisconsin river, 
and the Christinaux of Lake Superior, in 1754. It is true 
that this war would at times subside, and traders would 
again reach the Mississippi. Thus in the fall of 1727, the 
French built Fort Beauharnois on the north side of Lake 
Pepin, but were driven out the following year ; and Father 
Guignas, who had there established the " Mission of St. 
Michael, the archangel," was taken prisoner by the Masco- 
tens, an allied tribe of the Foxes. 

If the French ever had a permanent fort at Prairie Du 
Chien, in latter times, as tradition confirms, it was probably 
established in the fall of 1754, or the spring of the following 
year, when they rallied powerful bands of all the north- 
western tribes against the English, with which they defeated 
General Braddock, near Pittsburgh, at the opening of the 
old French and Indian war, in 1755. 

The Rev. A. Bronson, of Prairie Du Chien, in the Collec- 
tions of the State Historical Society (Vol. 4, page 249), on 
the authority of B. W. Brisbois, Esq., a native of that place, 
states that the first settler of Prairie Du Chien was probably 
one Cardinell, who came with his wife to the Mississippi, 
from Canada, as a trader and trapper, between the years 



Wisconsin. 349 

1720 and 1730, and first fixed his residence on Cannon river, 
at the present site of Red Wing, Minnesota; but soon 
changed it to Prairie Du Chien, a more central point for 
trade, and opened the first farm at the latter place. Mr. 
Brisbois, who was personally acquainted with Cardinell's 
widow, who died very aged in 1827, had " heard her say 
that when she came to the place first, the waters were so 
high that they came up from the Wisconsin, next to the 
bluffs, where the ground is some feet lower than the rest of 
the plain, in their bark canoe." If this statement is true, 
Cardinell probably came to this prairie at the time of the 
great freshet on the Mississippi, in the spring of 1728, which 
flooded the fort on Lake Pepin, and was said by the Sioux 
to be the highest water they ever knew. The woman's 
statement has been quite generally doubted, because in 
modern times the river has not been high enough to flood 
the land next to the bluffs; but the great flood of 1728 
having been established by official French documents, it 
goes strongly to corroborate her statement. 

However, it does not follow, of course, that Cardinell was 
not driven out of the country with the other traders by the 
Foxes the same year, and even remained out until permitted 
to return after the general peace in 1754. The same 
authority makes the second settler one Ga?iier, whose 
descendants still live at the Prairie, but the date of his 
arrival is not given. 

The Prairie derived its name from a Fox chief, by the 
name of Alim, or Dog, whose band occupied the bank of 
the Mississippi at that point as late as 1781, and the French 
name, " Prairie Du Chien," literally means, " Dog's Plains." 
By the French traditions, the " Dog's Plains " were pur- 
chased of the Fox Indians, probably at the time the French 
established the military post, about 1755, and evidence of 
the fact having been lost, the purchase was confirmed by 
Nanpouis, a Fox chief, about 1802, at Cahokia, near St. 
Louis. 



350 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Captain John Carver, of Boston, visited Prairie Du Chien 
in 1766, and wrote of it as then containing u about three 
hundred families," and that the houses were "well built, 
after the Indian manner," but does not say that it then con- 
tained any French inhabitants. He, however, said that it 
was a great mart for Indian trade, from which we can 
reasonably infer that it had a good supply of French 
traders ; but as Canada had been surrendered to England, 
the French had of course evacuated their fort, which tradi- 
tion said was burned the second year of the American 
revolution. 

All Canada having been surrendered to England by the 
treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, the most important 
posts were taken possession of by the British government, 
and in 1781, Lieutenant-Governor Patrick Sinclair, of 
Canada, negotiated with the Indians, and purchased Mack- 
inaw, Green Bay, and Prairie Du Chien, and held possession 
of them until they were finally surrendered to the United 
States, July 1, 1796. Peter Lapoint was the interpreter at 
the treaty with the Indians, and was present at the Prairie 
when Bazil Guird, Pierre Antya, and Augustin Ange* 
delivered the goods to the Indians, pursuant to the treaty, 
and with Michael Brisbois, became a permanent resident of 
that place in 1781 or 1782, from which time the post became 
one of importance, and its history easily traced. During 
the next ten years, nearly the whole prairie was claimed and 
reduced to cultivation by the adventurous courriers de bois, 
who had abandoned their wanderings, taken to their sweet 
embraces the daughters of the red men, and retired to the 
enjoyment of that connubial bliss which is often less appre- 
ciated by those much more advanced in the scale of civili- 
zation. Their numerous but dusky progeny, in which often 
flows the blood of mighty Indian warriors, now constitutes 
a portion of the aristocracy of the ancient villages of Prairie 
Du Chien and Green Bay. ' 

Charlevoix, who visited Green Bay in 1721, dates the 



WISCONSIN. 351 

first settlement of this place in the previous year, but 
strangely ignores authentic points in the early history of 
Wisconsin, and replaces them with vague traditions, which 
has tended so much to confuse the otherwise authentic 
histories of the early travelers. We have heretofore stated 
that we date the first settlement at the time that Father 
Allouez established the mission of St. Francois Xavier, in 
1669. This mission had been so successful that, in 1673, 
Father Marquette stated that the " Fathers " had baptized 
over two thousand of the natives. In 1680, Father Henne- 
pin found Frenchmen trading there without license, on his 
return from his exploration of the Mississippi In the 
"Memoir of M. De Denonville," in 1688, he speaks of 
" some French established at the Bay Des Puans." In 
1699, Father St. Cosme, in his journal across Green Bay 
and down the Mississippi, said that " the Jesuit Fathers 
have a mission at the head of the bay." In the " Memoir 
on the Indians of Canada," dated 1718, published in Vol. 9, 
of New York Colonial Documents, in speaking of Green 
Bay, says, " there are some Frenchmen there also." 

Indeed, authorities can be multiplied to almost any 
extent, to show a continuous occupation by the French from 
1669 to the surrender of Canada to the English. 

At what time the first government fort was established at 
the Bay, there is considerable doubt, as the writer finds no 
mention of a commandant at that post until Captain De 
Vercheres was appointed, who reached that place about the 
first of October, 1747. Mackinaw had long been the head- 
quarters of the fur traders, and a fort at that point was 
commenced as early as the fall of 1688, under the orders of 
the French king, dated March 8th of that year. 

The renewal of the difficulties with the Foxes, by the 
murder of a Frenchman by that tribe, at the Bay, in the 
spring of 1747, may have led to the fortification of Green 
Bay by the* French government for the safety of the traders, 
although in the return of a list of forts in Canada, in 1749, 



352 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

none are mentioned at the Bay ; but Mackinaw was returned 
as then having four very small brass guns, and one four-inch 
mortar. Forts, however, were often mentioned at the Bay, 
by early travelers, particularly La Hontan, in 1689, and 
Charlevoix, in 1721 ; but such forts may have been stockades 
without cannon, constructed by the French traders for their 
own protection. 

Captain De Vercheres evidently did not long remain at 
the Bay, as he was ordered to Lake St. Francis the follow- 
ing June. In 1754, Sieur Marin, who the previous year had 
commanded an important French expedition to take pos- 
session of the Ohio valley, was assigned to Green Bay, and 
fortunately succeeded in settling a peace between the Bay 
Indians and the Christinaux of Lake Superior. 

The next year opened the old French and Indian war, 
which only terminated with the surrender of all Canada to 
the English. This war was the last great struggle on the 
American continent between the English and French for 
their territorial possessions, and for the supremacy of the 
Catholic or Protestant religion ; and the French drew from 
the north-west every available Indian and white man to war 
against the English, and every battle-field of that war was 
strewn with the bodies of the natives of the western 
country. 

The Governor of Canada having surrendered that prov- 
ince to the English, by articles dated September 8th, 1760, 
the following year forces were dispatched to take possession 
of the north-west; and, October 12th, Captain Balfour 
reached Green Bay with detachments from the 60th and 
and 80th regiments of Royal Americans, and " found the 
fort quite rotten, the stockade ready to fall, the houses 
without cover, our fire-wood far off, and none to be got 
when the river closed." The 14th of the same month, 
Captain Balfour departed for St. Joseph's, leaving lieutenant 
James Gorrell, with " one sergeant, and corporal, and fifteen 
privates, a French interpreter, and two English traders, viz. : 



WISCONSIN. 353 

Messrs. McKay from Albany, and Goddard from Montreal," 
to hold the post at the Bay, who erected Fort Edward 
Augustus. 

The Fox Indians, so often exterminated by the boasting 
French, still occupied the Fox river, where they had been 
located for more than a hundred years, and numbered three 
hundred and fifty warriors, their usual strength. 

Lieutenant Gorrell, in speaking of the Indians dependent 
on that post for supplies, includes the Sioux and Iowas, 
which precludes the probability of there being a military 
post at Prairie Du Chien at that time. 

In 1763 occurred the Pontiac conspiracy, gotten up by 
the old French traders in the north-west, to drive the 
English out of the country; and, June 4th of that year, 
Mackinaw was treacherously captured by tfte united forces 
of the Chippeways and Ottawas, and Lieutenant Jamet and 
twenty privates were massacred. 

News of the affair was sent by Captain Etherington, the 
commandant, a prisoner, to Lieutenant Gorrell, with orders 
to evacuate the post at the Bay and go to Mackinaw. A 
council of the Bay Indians, including the Foxes, was imme- 
diately called ; speeches were made, presents delivered, and 
the Indians offered not only to protect the English, but to 
reinstate the garrison at Mackinaw. Lieutenant Gorrell 
accepted one hundred warriors as an escort beyond Mack- 
inaw, and on the 21st of June, 1763, proceeded with his 
small force and English traders to Montreal. 

This war was of some importance ; but peace was con- 
cluded with the western tribes on the 18th of July, 1767, at 
Niagara, and with Pontiac, July 18th, 1765, in the region 
of the Wabash river. 

The post at Mackinaw was reestablished in the fall of 
1765, under the command of Captain William Howard, but 
I find no evidence that a military post was ever reestab- 
lished at Green Bay while it remained under the govern- 
23 



354 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

raent of Great Britain, nor until after the close of the war 
of 1812. 

According to " Grignon's Recollections," in 1785 Green 
Bay contained only seven families, mostly half-breeds, and 
none above, on Fox river. This number increased slowly, 
and at the close of the war of 1812, there had been added 
about thirty Canadians and half-breeds from Canada, so 
that in his opinion the total number of men, women and 
children might have reached one hundred and fifty souls 
at the commencement of 1816. 

About 1809 was erected the first saw-mill and grist-mill 
in the State, on Devil's river, near the Bay, by Mr. Franks. 
A second saw and grist-mill was erected in 1813, on 
Reaume's creek, about four miles from the Bay. In 1818 
Colonel John Shaw erected a grist-mill at Fisher's Coulee, 
four miles above Prairie Du Chien, and the following year 
a saw-mill on Black river, at the first falls. In 1822, Mr. 
Perkins, of Kentucky, erected a saw-mill on the Menomonee 
branch of the Chippeway river, which was soon carried off 
by a flood ; and in 1830 was successfully replaced by a new 
one, erected by Joseph Rolette and James H. Lockwood, 
of Prairie Du Chien. 

The Indians along the Mississippi being restless and 
troublesome, early in the spring of 1814 Governor Clark, of 
St. Louis, visited Prairie Du Chien with a military force, 
held a council with the Indians, established a military post, 
and constructed a fort at that point. He left about sixty 
men, under the charge of Lieutenant Perkins, to hold the 
post. This force was captured, July 21st of the same year, 
by Colonel McKay, with a large force of British and 
Indians, after a four days' siege, and the men paroled and 
sent with their arms on a gunboat to St. Louis. Colonel 
McKay left at the fort the company of regulars and the two 
companies of militia from Mackinaw, under the command 
of Captain Pohlman, of the regulars, who probably held the 
post until the close of the war. 



WISCONSIN. 355 

On the 21st day of June, 1816, a detachment of United 
States troops, under the command of Colonel Willowby 
Morgan, took possession of Prairie Du Chien, and imme- 
diately commenced the erection of a fort near the present 
site of the dwelling-house of Colonel H. L. Dousman, at the 
" upper town." This fort was flooded by the high water 
of 1828; a new site was selected, and the present Fort 
" Crawford" erected between the years 1829 and 1834, and 
was some time under the command of Colonel Taylor, 
afterwards President of the United States ; and his son-in- 
law, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, 
was long a lieutenant at the same post, and conducted 
Black Hawk to St. Louis in 1832. 

About the 16th of July, 1816, Colonel John Miller, after- 
wards Governor of Missouri, with a detachment of three 
companies of the 3rd regiment United States infantry, 
reached Green Bay in three sail vessels, the first to reach 
that point ; and soon after Fort Howard was constructed, 
and the old trading posts of Prairie Du Chien and Green 
Bay began to emerge from half-breed jurisdiction to regular 
American civilization. 

During this long night of advancing civilization, the 
traders and settlers were " a law unto themselves," and 
generally redressed their own grievances, and many a poor 
man perished by the deadly missile of his comparatively 
white neighbor, who charged the offence on some straggling 
Indian; but, to their credit, these offences were never 
approved, and the code of the Courrier de bois was generally 
like that of the Irishman, to give every one " fair play." 

While justice to some may be intuitive, yet it is not 
safe always to leave its administration to either the guilty 
or injured party; and that being the opinion of General 
Harrison, then governor of the territory of Indiana, he 
occasionally appointed officers for Green Bay and Prairie 
Du Chien, but as these appointments were regarded as a 
slight interference with the established order of things, they 



356 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

were never very popular. This, however, may not be true 
in reference to Justice Reaume, who was said to have been 
commissioned about 1808 at Green Bay^and long balanced 
the scales, if reports be true, in the true style of the monkey 
in the fable. He, however, was brought to sorrow by the 
competition of Mr. Justice Porlier, who was commissioned 
by the Governor of Canada in 1812, claiming British juris- 
diction of the Bay, and also recommissioned in January, 
1815, by the same authority. 

The advent of the troops and American population to 
Green Bay and Prairie Du Chien, the admission of Illinois 
as a State, and the annexation of Wisconsin to the territory 
of Michigan, attracted so much attention that it was deemed 
proper to give this new territory a civil government, and to 
that end the three judges in Michigan, then constituting 
the legislature, passed an Act organizing the present terri- 
tory of Wisconsin into two counties, with the division line 
running north and south through the portage between the 
Fox and Wisconsin rivers, calling the eastern county 
Brown, and the western Crawford. This Act was approved 
by Governor Cass, October 16th, 1818, and Wisconsin 
became a civilized portion of the United States. 

The mines of Wisconsin have figured largely in connec- 
tion with its history, and have contributed much to attract 
the pioneer to its soil. Nicholas Perrot, the early French 
interpreter and commandant on the upper Mississippi, in 
1689, has the credit of first discovering lead on the Des 
Moines, in Iowa, the mines of which long bore his name. 

Le Sueur, in his voyage up the Mississippi, in 1700, 
speaks of a lead mine, seven leagues up the " River a la 
Mine," which, by his distances, was evidently Fever river, 
at Galena, Illinois; and the same authority further said: 
" From the 25th to the 27th of July, made ten leagues, 
passed two small rivers, made an examination of a lead 
mine, of which we took a supply. This mine was probably 
at Dubuque. 



WISCONSIN. 357 

The exact date of the discovery of lead in Wisconsin 
does not appear ; but Captain Carver visited the Blue 
Mounds in 1766, and speaks of lead as abounding there. 
He also visited the Sacs at Sauk Prairie, on the Wisconsin 
river, and remarked that " so plentiful is lead here, that I 
saw large quantities of it lying about the streets in the town 
belonging to the Saukies." It is quite probable that lead 
was known to exist in Wisconsin long anterior to its dis- 
covery by Captain Carver. The Indians owned the mines, 
and dug, smelted, and sold it to the French traders for 
goods, who shipped it to market when they went to St. 
Louis for their winter's simply. 

In 1822 the lead trade began to attract some attention, 
and James Johnson, a government contractor for the United 
States army, made a kind of treaty with the Indians, and 
obtained leave to work the mines for a limited time, prob- 
ably four years, as they left about 1826. Johnson made 
some arrangements by which he let in others also to dig, 
and Messrs. John and Joseph Ward, of Kentucky, brought 
in from fifty to four hundred negro slaves. Several others 
also worked slaves in the mines. Mr. John Armstrong 
came to Galena July 10th, 1822, about ten days after John- 
son, and worked at different points in Illinois and Wiscon- 
sin. In 1S26 there was a great rush of miners to Galena, 
somewhat like the California excitement, from which point 
they scattered through that country, and the following year 
found many of them still digging ore and opening farms. 
John S. Miller was at Gratiot's Grove : Ebenezer Brio-ham 
and John Ray were near Plattville ; William Adney near 
Hazel Green; John Armstrong and Jesse W. Shulls at 
Slmllsburg, and several others in south-western Wisconsin. 

This advent of the miners upon the territory of the Win- 
nebago Indians without any treaty, deprived them of their 
previous profit in tiie lead trade, and, with the difficulty at 
Fort Snelling, nearly produced an open war. Murders were 
committed on the whites by that tribe. The miners lied to 



358 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Galena, organized military companies, elected Henry Dodge 
as their general, and, with the government troops, made a 
campaign to the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, 
where the difficulties were compromised and peace restored 
without much bloodshed. 

In this campaign to the site of Fort Winnebago (the fort 
having been erected the following year,) General Dodge 
discovered the Indian diggings at Dodgeville, and in the 
fall of 1827 he took possession of those diggings, and 
thereby founded the village of Dodgeville. 

In the spring of 1828 lead was discovered at Mineral 
Point, and by fall Dodgeville had about five hundred 
inhabitants, Mineral Point about six hundred, and the 
whole mining district in south-western Wisconsin about 
8,000 inhabitants. In the fall of 1829 a public meeting was 
held at Mineral Point, and John L. Chastine, Esq., a Ken- 
tucky lawyer, was appointed to attend the next session of 
the legislature of Michigan, and procure the organization of 
a new county south of the Wisconsin river. He performed 
the duty assigned him, and early in the winter Iowa became 
the third county in the new State. 

The rapid ingress of population to the Mississippi valley 
at this period alarmed other Indian tribes; and in 1832 
broke out the Sac war, and that tribe, under their leader, 
" Black Hawk," was driven through the eastern part of 
Wisconsin, by way of Rock river, the four lakes, and the 
Wisconsin Heights, and finally defeated at the battle of 
Bad Ax. This campaign brought the beautiful groves and 
prairies of that delightful region to the notice of thousands, 
and led to its prompt occupation by the adventurous emi- 
grant within the next ten years. 

The Rev. Father Zenobius Membre, speaking of the 
Indian tribes with whom he had become acquainted, and 
of their location, having incidentally remarked that "the 
Maskoutens and Outagamies, who dwell at about 43° north 
latitude, on the banks of the river called Melleoki, which 



WISCONSIN. 



359 



empties into Lake Dauphin, very near their village," etc., 
we infer that he had learned those facts when he passed that 
point with the party of La Salle, in the month of October, 
1679, on their way to the Illinois, to explore the Mississippi, 
and therefore that La Salle and his party, consisting of the 
Jesuit Fathers Hennepin, Gabriel, Membre, and Watteaux, 
and seventeen voyageurs, were the first white men who ever 
visited the location now known as Milwaukee. 

It is true that Father Marquette, returning to Illinois, 
passed MhVaukee in November, 1674, and also that the 
Rev. Father Allouez, on his way to Illinois, passed it again 
in the month of April, 1677 ; but as neither of them men- 
tion the name of Milwaukee, or the Indians on its bank, we 
are not allowed the inference that they landed and made 
themselves acquainted with its name and locality, although 
they probably saw the site of the city. 

Again we find the name mentioned by the Rev. Father 
St. Cosme, on his way to the Illinois, in the following 
language: "We arrived on the 7th (October, 1699) at 
Mebvarick. This is a river where there is a village which 
has been considerable, and inhabited by Motarctins and 
Foxes, and even some Poux. We remained there two days, 
partly on account of the wind, and partly to refresh our 
people a little, as duck and teal shooting was very plenty on 
the river. On the 10th of October, having left Meliwarick 
early in the morning, we arrived in good season at < Kipi- 
kawi,' which is about eight leagues from it. Some Indians 
had led us to suppose that we might ascend by this river, 
and that after making a portage of about nine leagues, we 
could descend by another river called Pistrui, which empties 
into the Illinois." They remained five days at " Kipikus- 
kwi," exploring, found no water, and went on the lake to 
" Chicago." 

The writer was not well settled in the orthography of 
these names, as he changed each time he wrote the words. 

The meaning of the word Meliwarik, or as now written, 



360 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Milwaukee, is not very clear, some traders rendering it 
"rich or beautiful land." Mr. Grignon, on the authority of 
an old Indian, renders it, Man-a-wau-kee, or place of an 
aromatic root called man-wau ; but Governor Doty is quite 
positive that it means " the place of the hazel brush." The 
difference in the orthography of traders, probably results, 
in part, from the dialects of the Foxes, Mascotens, and 
Potowatomies, who have inhabited it at different times. 

" Kipikawi " is also rendered " Root," for which the 
French give as an equivalent, " Racine," and therefrom we 
derive the name of another beautiful city on the western 
bank of Michigan, or Great Lake. 

Milwaukee, like the most of the lake and river towns, has 
been occupied from time to time by Indian traders, from an 
early period of our State history ; but the last one, more 
permanent than the rest, and whose stay reached down to 
civilization, was Solomon Juneau, Esq., a native of Canada, 
who erected his trading shop the 14th of September, 1818, 
the year that Brown county was organized. From this 
time to 1834, the region of country along the west shore of 
Lake Michigan seemed to afford little or no attraction to the 
white settlers ; but in the latter year, Colonel George H. 
Walker, Hon. Byron Kilbourn, and some others, made 
claims at Milwaukee ; Captain Gilbert Knapp and two asso- 
ciates, at Racine ; Messrs. M. D. and A. R. Cutler, John 
Menderville, and Mr. Luther, at old Prairie Village, now 
Waukesha, and perhaps a few others, when application was 
made to the Michigan territorial legislature for another new 
county, and on the 6th of September, 1834, Milwaukee, or 
" the Land of the Hazel," was inaugurated as the fourth 
sister county of our growing family. 

The two following years, the " Land of the Hazel " 
attracted comparatively a large emigration, which in 1836 
and 1837, culminated in a wild town-lot speculation, and a 
general bankruptcy of speculators. 

The territory of Michigan, east of the lake, including the 



WISCONSIN. 361 

northern peninsula, having formed a State government, and 
been admitted into the Union of States, Congress passed an 
act, which was approved by the President April 20, 1836, 
" establishing the territorial government of Wisconsin." 

The rapid settlement of the new territory soon made it 
necessary to adopt a constitution and become a State, and 
to that end delegates were elected, who met at Madison, the 
seat of government, October 5, 1846, and after a stormy 
session of seventy-three days, they adopted a constitution, 
which, on being submitted to a popular vote of the people 
of the territory, was rejected by a considerable majority. 
The difficulty in the convention arose mainly from the faet 
that, as the democratic party was largely in the majority in 
that body, the visionary theorists of the leaders succeeded 
in pressing into the constitution some of their wildest 
schemes, which proved more objectionable to the rank and 
file of the party than supposed ; hence the " bolters," joining 
the whigs, who were all united in opposition, a large major- 
ity was secured against it. 

A second convention was called, and new delegates 
elected, who met December 15, 1847, and on the 1st day 
of February, 1848, they signed the present constitution of 
the State, which, having been submitted to a vote of the 
people, was ratified and adopted without any serious oppo- 
sition, whereupon Congress passed an act, which was 
approved by the President May 29, 1848, admitting Wis- 
consin as a State of the Union. 

On the admission of the State into the Union, it became 
a district for a United States District Court, and Hon. A. G. 
Miller, a territorial judge, was appointed district judge by 
the President. 

By an act of Congress, approved September 28, 1850, 
Wisconsin became a collection district, and Milwaukee the 
port of entry, and Kenosha, Racine, Sheboygan, Green Bay, 
and Depere, ports of delivery. 

In 1834, Wisconsin territory, then belonging to Michigan, 
23* 



362 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

was divided into two land districts, for the sale of govern- 
ment land, by a north and south line on the township line 
next west of Fort Winnebago ; and the eastern district was 
called " Green Bay," and the western district the Wisconsin 
land district," registers and receivers being appointed in 
both districts. Other districts were afterwards established, 
as the Milwaukee in 1836, Western in 1849, Stevens' Point, 
July 30, 1852, La Crosse by the same act, Fond Du Lac, 
of Lake Superior, in 1855, and Chippeway district in 1857. 

The population of a State, from period to period, is as 
good an index of the advance of civilization as can be 
obtained without the actual facts in the case. In Wisconsin, 
the population has been as follows : In 1840, 30,945 ; 1850, 
305,391 ; 1860, 775,881 ; 1865, 863,326. 

When this State was admitted into the Union, it became 
entitled to every sixteenth section in each township for the 
support of schools ; also, to five hundred thousand acres as 
one of the new States, to balance the " surplus revenue " 
distributed to the older States in 1836. This amount was 
subsequently increased by one-fourth of the " swamp lands " 
donated to the State by the act of 1850. 

Portions of these lands have been sold from time to time 
on contracts of ten years, for seven per cent, interest, some 
of which contracts have been forfeited to the State ; and in 
1865 the school lands held by the State, both unsold and 
forfeited, amounted to 515,081 acres. The amount of the 
funds yielding seven per cent, interest, since the organiza- 
tion of the State, has been as follows : 

1849 $8,500.00 

1850 538,094.41 

1851 765,109.49 

1852 ---------- 819,200.50 

1853 ---------- 1,141,804.28 

1854 1,670,258.77 

1855 1,897,269.30 

1856 1,859,242.82 

1857 - 2,007,944.15 



WISCONSIN. 



363 



1858 - $2,845,846.34 

1859 2,786,767.03 

i860 2,339,694.49 

1861 2,458,351.49 

1862 2,219,905.59 

1863 2,262,466.15 

1864 2,118,423.56 

1865 2,113,506.32 

These funds for 1865 were invested as follows: 

Amount due on land sold on certificates . - -$675,037.11 

Amount due on mortgages ----- 289,123.75 

Amount due on certificates of State indebtedness - - 897,000.00 

Amount due on State bonds 103,700.00 

One quarter of the normal school fund - 146,645.46 

Total $2,113,506.32 



Statistical Table of Schools in Wisconsin. 





c u m 


Ji u 


000 


go 


m 




2c^ 

2 &> >> 


.si . 


-0 

.C v£i 

C 

01 5 m 


OB- 
'S « 


O 

a 


TEAR. 




&i ft 


""DO 


Is 






"° rn V ' 
6 "° . 


S 85 


sea 

COS 


c * 






fl'tf'S 




£.■3 






Total n 
in th 
andu 
of ag 


-12 a 


Averag 
a pov 
each 

age. 


S3 


11 

< 


1849 


70,457 

92,947 

111,431 

124,783 


32,147 
61,507 

78,944 
88,042 


45 
60 
70 
71 


71 
74 

74 
75 




1850 


3 8-10 


1S51 


50 


1852 


48 


1S53 


13S,279 
155,125 
186,960 
213,886 


97,835 
103,933 
122,462 

134,853 


69 
65 
64 
64 


75 

77 
84 
99 


45 


1854 


72 


1855 


SO 5-10 


1856 


70 


1857 


241,545 
264,077 
278,871 


153,613 
171,785 

18S,477 


60 
63 
64 


122 
1 1 


66 


185S 


75 


1859 


64 


1S60 


288,984 
299,133 


194,357 
198,443 


67 
66 


136 
132 


64 


1861 


32 


1S62 


808,056 
320,965 
329,906 
335,582 


191,366 
215,163 
211,119 
223,067 


62 
67 
64 
66 


109 
120 
1204 
184* 


50 


1S63 


44 


1864 


47 


1S65 


46 







864 upper Mississippi. 

In 1865 the whole number of school districts, and parts 
of school districts in the State, were 5,725, in which were 
employed 7,532 teachers. The total amount expended in 
the State for schools was $1,055,101.33, of which $151,816.34 
were received from the State, and the balance raised by 
taxes. The number of public school-houses in the State 
was 4,338, which will accommodate 241,593 pupils. These 
houses and sites were valued at $1,669,770.06. 

In addition to these public schools, there were, in 1865, 
228 private schools, employing 242 teachers, and in which 
7,986 scholars were registered who did not attend the 
public schools; 14 academies, employing 81 teachers, and 
having 1,950 students; and nine colleges and universities, 
employing 56 professors, and having 1,449 students. All 
of these institutions are supported by private means, except 
the State University, which had an endowment from the 
United States in public lands. 

The " Normal fund," arising from the sale of " swamp 
lands," has been set apart to establish four Normal schools 
for the special training of teachers. The sites for the 
schools had not been selected in February, 1866. There 
has also been appropriated by Congress 240,000 acres of 
government land, for the special establishment of one or 
more agricultural colleges in the State, by the act approved 
July 2nd, 1862. These lands have been located in Wiscon- 
sin, and the whole fund has been set over to the State Uni- 
versity, which has organized a department of agriculture. 

To these educational institutions may be added, as institu- 
tions contributing greatly to the aid of civilization, the State 
Reform school at Waukesha, containing, September 30th, 
1864, one hundred and seventeen males and twenty females ; 
the State Prison at Waupun, containing at the same date 
one hundred and twenty inmates ; the Institute for the Educa- 
tion of the Blind, at Janesville, which commenced with eight 
pupils in 1850, but had increased from year to year until 
October 1st, 1864, when the pupils numbered fifty-nine ; the 



WISCONSIN. 365 

Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, at 
Delavah, having, October 17th, 1864, forty-seven male and 
thirty-three female pupils ; and the State Hospital for the 
Insane, at Fourth lake, near Madison, having in October, 
1864, seventy-nine male, and ninety-one female inmates. 
These institutions are all in excellent condition, and are 
supported from funds derived from taxes on the whole 
property of the State. 

The introduction of newspapers is also an important 
index of the progress of civilization in modern times ; hence 
we find the first paper in Wisconsin started at Green Bay, 
December 11th, 1833, and called the " Green Bay Intelli- 
gencer," a four-column semi-monthly. The second paper 
was the " Wisconsin Free Press," started also at Green Bay 
in 1835. The third paper was the " Milwaukee Advertiser," 
commenced July 14th, 1836, at Milwaukee. The fourth 
was the " Belmont Gazette," commenced at Belmont in the 
fall of 1836. The fifth, the "Milwaukee Sentinel," a six- 
column weekly, commenced at Milwaukee in June, 1837. 
The sixth was the " Wisconsin Culturist," a large octavo, 
issued monthly, and commenced in 1837 at Milwaukee. 
The "Racine Argus" next came as the seventh, in 1839, 
and after six months was removed to Madison, and became 
the " Wisconsin Enquirer." In 1843 it removed to Mil- 
waukee, and became the " Milwaukee Democrat" in August 
of that year. The next year it was changed to the " Free- 
man," and in subsequent years the " Free Democrat." In 
1838 the "Miners' Free Press" was started at Mineral 
Point; in 1839, the "Northern Badger," at Plattville ; 
1840, the "Madison Express," at Madison; 1841, the 
" Southport American," at Southport ; " Green Bay Repub- 
lican" and " Green Bay Phoenix," both of Green Bay ; and 
"Milwaukee Journal," at Milwaukee. In 1842 there were 
four more added : " Racine Advocate," " Wisconsin Demo- 
crat," at Madison ; Independent American," at Plattville ; 
and "Mineral Point Free Press." In 1843 the "Grant 



366 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

County Herald" was started at Lancaster. In 1844 five 
more were added : the " Wisconsin Argus," at Madison ; 
the " Milwaukeean," a tri-weekly ; the " Wisconsin 
Register," at Plattville ; and the " Wisconsin Banner," a 
German paper at Milwaukee. Many of the papers enumer- 
ated were of short life, others changed their residences and 
names, and some became permanent. 

The writer started the " Western Star," at Elk Horn, 
August 7th, 1845, the first paper in Walworth county, with 
which he was connected for nearly a year. At that time, 
the following were the newspapers of the territory, with 
their politics : 

Whiff. — Milwaukee Sentinel (daily and weekly) ; South- 
port American ; Madison Express ; Wisconsin Republican, 
Green Bay ; Janesville Gazette ; Western Star. 

Democratic. — Milwaukee Courier ; Southport Telegraph ; 
Racine Advocate ; Wisconsin Argus, Madison ; Mineral 
Point Democrat ; Wisconsin Banner, (German,) Milwaukee. 

Abolition. — American Freeman, at Prairieville. 

Neutral. — Wisconsin Herald, Lancaster; Independent 
American, Plattville. 

The " Sentinel" then published the only daily paper in 
the territory, which was begun in October, 1844, and all the 
balance of the list were weekly. 

The exact circulation of these papers at the time can not 
be given, but the daily did not exceed 300 per day, nor the 
weeklies 500 per week, on an average. This would give 
about 575,000 annually. 

In 1850, Wisconsin had 6 daily, 4 tri-weekly, 35 weekly, 
and 1 monthly, with an aggregate circulation annually of 
2,665,487. 

In 1860, the papers had increased to 14 daily, 8 tri-weekly, 
130 weekly, and 3 monthly, with an aggregate annual cir- 
culation of 10,798,670. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE STATES OF MISSOURI, IOWA, MINNESOTA, KANSAS, AND 
NEBRASKA; AND TERRITORIES OF COLORADO, DAKOTA, 
AND MONTANA. 



MISSOURI. 

We have heretofore noticed that Missouri was first visited 
in 1673, by Jolyette and Marquette. From that time traders 
occasionally visited that region; and some time after the 
building of Fort Chartres, and said to be in 1751, a few 
houses were erected at St. Genevieve, nearly opposite the 
old town of Kaskaskia, which was the first settlement of 
Missouri. 

In 1762, Mr. D'Abadie, the governor of Louisiana, 
granted to a company of merchants, of New Orleans, the 
exclusive privilege of the fur trade with the Indian nations 
of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. This company bore 
the title of the firm of Pierre Liguest Laclede, Antoine 
Maxan and Co. In August, 1763, Mr. Laclede, the princi- 
pal of the company, left New Orleans with his shipment of 
goods, and arrived at St. Genevieve, November 3rd of that 
year. 

Failing to find at that place houses sufficiently large to 
hold his goods, he temporarily deposited them in Fort 
Chartres, and then passed up the Mississippi to find a suit- 
able site for his trading establishment, finally selecting the 
ground on which St. Louis now stands. He cut down a 
few trees to mark the site, and returned to Fort Chartres, 



368 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

where he spent the winter. The 1st of February, 1764, he 
dispatched Auguste Chouteau, with thirty men and boats, 
who took possession, and commenced improvements at St. 
Louis, February 15th of that year. Log houses were 
erected, and in due time Laclede and Co., with their goods, 
were installed at the new city, which he named St. Louis. 

At this period, the French commandant at Fort Chartres 
had received orders to surrender the east bank of the Mis- 
sissippi to the English, and the French inhabitants and half- 
breeds were in great consternation about falling into the 
hands of the " heretics," as they called the English. Laclede 
took advantage of this alarm, and urged the inhabitants to 
pass over the river and settle at St. Louis. The French 
commandant, De Neyon, urged them to go down the river 
and colonize near New Orleans. The latter left with most 
of the troops and many of the inhabitants for New Orleans, 
July 10th, 1764. Many of these emigrants to the latter city 
not meeting with the success they expected, returned, and 
settled at St. Louis. The sequel showed that Laclede 
secured enough to constitute a small village at St. Louis. 
After De St. Ange De Bellerive had surrendered Fort 
Chartres to the English in 1765, he, too, passed over to St. 
Louis with his troops, and became a permanent settler. 
St. Louis thus became the capital of upper Louisiana, with 
Captain De St. Ange as commandant. Although Louisiana 
was transferred by the French to the Spanish in 1763, the 
latter nation never took possession of upper Louisiana until 
August 11th, 1768; and this possession only continued 
eleven months at first, as the difficulties at New Orleans 
called away the Spanish troops, who did not return until 
1770. 

The early pioneers have traditions of Vanne de grand 
coup, or the year of the great blow. It appears that about 
1779, Jean Marie Ducharme, a Canadian fur trader of 
Mackinaw, had been on a trading expedition up the Mis- 
souri river, and returning to St. Louis with a valuable 



MISSOURI. 369 

cargo of furs, was arrested by the Spanish commandant, 
thrown into prison, and his goods confiscated, because he 
had no Spanish license to trade. Proving that he had 
ransomed some Spanish, who were prisoners among the 
Indians, he was set at liberty, and returned to Mackinaw. 
Smarting under the loss of his property, he obtained the 
countenance and assistance of Governor Sinclair, the British 
commandant (England being at war with Spain), and mus- 
tered an expedition of Canadians and Indians, nearly nine 
hundred strong, which attacked St. Louis May 6, 1780, but 
were driven off by the French inhabitants. The Mackinaw 
expedition, however, succeeded in killing and scalping about 
sixty, principally Avomen and children, who had not time to 
escape from the fields, where they were engaged in agricul- 
tural labors. The English also captured a few prisoners. 

The emigration to Missouri was not confined to the 
Canadian French alone, for when the Americans had once 
passed the Alleghany mountains, their restless dispositions 
often led them to the very outskirts of civilization ; hence 
we find that General Morgan, of American fame, procured 
a large grant of land of the Spanish government in 1788, 
and soon after planted an American colony at the present 
site of New Madrid ; while General Dodge and his father, 
and others, settled at St. Genevieve in 1796. Even Daniel 
Boone, of Kentucky fame, spent the latter portion of his life 
in Missouri. 

On "the 9th day of July, 1803, at seven o'clock P. M.," 
says the old record, St. Louis was thrown into a profound 
sensation on the receipt of the news that Spain had ceded 
Louisiana to France, and that Napoleon had sold it to the 
United States. This proved true, and on the 9th of March, 
the following year, Major Amos Stoddard appeared at that 
city with a company of the United States troops, and, as the 
agent of France, accepted the surrender from the Spanish 
to the French ; and the following day, accepted the surren- 
der from the French, and unfurled the stars and stripes over 
24 



370 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the territory of upper Louisiana. Major Stoddard became 
military governor, though soon after superseded by the 
arrival of General Wilkinson. 

By an act of Congress passed March 6, 1804, Louisiana 
was divided on the parallel of the thirty-third degree of 
north latitude, and the southern portion was incorporated as 
the " Territory of Orleans ; " while the northern portion was 
organized as the " District of Louisiana," and placed under 
the jurisdiction of the governor and judges of the Territory 
of Indiana. 

By another act of Congress of the 4th of June, 1812, a 
portion of the " District of Louisiana " was organized under 
the territorial name of Missouri, with a civil government. 
By the act of Congress of March 6, 1820, the people of 
Missouri were authorized to hold a convention and frame a 
State constitution. The convention was accordingly held, 
a constitution adopted July 19th, 1820, and the State of 
Missouri admitted into the Union under the act of Congress 
of March 2nd, 1821, pursuant to the President's proclama- 
tion. A bitter opposition was made in Congress to the 
admission of Missouri as a State, for the reason that the 
inhabitants thereof had established slavery ; but this oppo- 
sition was finally compromised by a section in the act of 
March 6, 1820, prohibiting slavery in all the Louisiana pur- 
chase north of the parallel of 36° 30' north latitude ; not, 
however, including any part of Missouri within the prohibi- 
tion. 

This was the postponement, only, of the great question 
of slavery, which the passions of men would only allow to 
be settled by the civil war of 1861. 

The act authorizing the people to form a State govern- 
ment contained the usual grants for schools, a seminary, 
seat of government, salt springs, and five per cent, of the 
net proceeds of the sales of the public lands. The principal 
of the common school fund in 1850 was $575,667.96, which 
was loaned on bonds to the State bank. The seminary fund 



MISSOURI. 371 

amounted to $100,000. In 1862 the school fund amounted 
to $687,968, and was invested in State bonds. The disorder 
in the State on account of the civil war suspended any 
distribution of the school fund to schools after 1860, until 
after the close of the war. 

A State convention to amend the constitution of the 
State, assembled in February, 1861, and after refusing to 
vote the State out of the Union, adjourned until July. At 
the appointed day of adjournment, it met and deposed 
Governor Jackson, and the most of the State officers and 
members of the legislature, who had become rebels, and 
organized a provisional government — the convention as- 
suming legislative functions for about two years. It finally 
adjourned July 1, 1863, after having, on that day, passed 
an ordinance abolishing slavery from and after July 4, 1870. 

In 1769, upper Louisiana had a population of 891 souls. 
By the census of 1810, Missouri had a population of 20,845. 
In 1820 it had increased to 66,557, of which 10,222 were 
slaves. In 1830, 140,455; 1840, 383,702; 1850, 682,044; 
and 1860, 1,182,012, of which 3,572 were free colored, and 
114,931 were slaves. The civil war which followed probably 
diminished the population of the State to some extent. 

Of newspapers, Missouri had none in 1810, and but five 
in 1828. In 1840 there were 2 daily, 28 weekly, 1 tri- 
weekly; total, 31. In 1850 there were: Literary and 
miscellaneous, 17 ; political, 42 ; religious, 2 ; total, 61, with 
a circulation of 70,480, and an aggregate circulation for the 
year, of 6,195,560 copies. Five of them were daily papers. 

In 1860, Missouri had : Political, 15 daily, 3 tri-weekly, 
122 weekly, and 1 monthly, papers ; Religious, 9 weekly and 
2 monthly; Literary and Miscellaneous, 1 daily, 12 weekly, 
and 8 monthly papers; total of all, 173, with an aggregate 
annual circulation of 29,741,464 copies. 



372 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



IOWA. 



This State was visited by Marquette and Jolyette in 1673, 
and by Captain Perrot in 1689 ; and the latter has the credit 
of discovering the lead mine at Des Moines. Le Seuer saw 
lead at Dubuque in 1700. In 1780, the squ&w of Peosta, a 
Fox warrior, discovered a vein of lead at Dubuque, and in 
1788, Julien Dubuque, of Prairie Du Chien, obtained leave 
of the Indians to work the mine. He immediately settled 
at Dubuque, and became the pioneer of Iowa. 

After the close of the Black Hawk war in 1832, the 
United States purchased the eastern part of Iowa of the 
Sac and Fox Indians, the Indians making a reservation of 
•four hundred sections. In 1836, these sections were pur- 
chased, and the following year, 1,250,000 acres additional, 
along the west side of the purchase of 1832, which covered 
nearly all the balance of the present State of Iowa. The 
Indian title being extinguished to the eastern part in 1832, 
the following year, the settlements commenced, and were" 
continued with rapidity. 

In 1836 Iowa was included in the organization of 
Wisconsin territory, and July 4, 1838, was made a separate 
territory by the name of " Iowa." The 7th day of October, 
1844, Iowa adopted a State constitution, and March 2, 1845, 
was admitted into the Union by act of Congress. The new 
State received the usual land grants of other new States. 

The increase of population in the new territory was rapid, 
and in 1840 the census showed 43,112 ; 1850, 192,214 ; 1860, 
674,948 ; and in 1863, 702,374. 

The educational interests of Iowa are nearly the same as 
those of Wisconsin. 

The newspaper press shows a fair advancement, the 
"Dubuque Visitor" having been the pioneer in 1836. In 
1840, there were 4 weekly papers ; 1850, 2 tri-weekly, 25 
weekly, 2 monthly; total, 25, with an aggregate annual 



MINNESOTA. 373 

circulation of 1,512,800. In I860, the number had advanced 
to : Political, 9 daily, 2 bi-weekly, 2 tri- weekly, 106 weekly ; 
Religious, 1 monthly; Literary, 1 monthly; and Miscel- 
laneous, 6 weekly, and 3 monthly; having an aggregate 
annual circulation of 6,589,360 copies. 

MINNESOTA. 

This name literally means, in the Sioux language, Smoky- 
water, and was applied by them to Minnesota* river, which 
has a clay-colored appearance. 

We have noticed that Father Hennepin and De Lut first 
visited this State in 1680, or at least the upper Mississippi 
part, but it is probable that Father Allouez first visited the 
territory west of Lake Superior as early as 1665. 

Captain Nicholas Perrot, with a small military force, took 
formal possession, in the name of the King of France, of 
the whole upper Mississippi region, and made a record 
thereof May 8, 1689, at the post of St. Anthony. 

Le Seuer visited the country again in 1700, and built a fort 
on the Blue Earth river, where he dug and shipped a quan- 
tity of the blue earth, supposing it to be copper ore. 

From this time, the French had but little trade with the 
Sioux, as the French were the allies of the Chippeways, who 
were at war with the Sioux, and Sacs and Foxes. The 
massacre of the Foxes at Detroit, in 1712, cut off all com- 
munication with the Sioux by the Wisconsin, until after 
1754, when peace was made with the Foxes. 

After the revolution, England held possession of the 
north-west until 1796, when it was surrendered to the United 
States ; but the upper Mississippi attracted little attention 
until after the peace of 1815. In 1816, the President sent 
a military force to take possession of Prairie Du Chien, and 
in 1819 Fort Snelling was commenced. In July, 1847, the 
writer visited St. Paul, Fort Snelling, Falls of St. Anthony, 
and Stillwater. At St. Paul he found two small log stores, 



374 # UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

with Indian goods, one of which was kept by Henry Jack- 
son, a native of Virginia, who was the proprietor of the 
town site, and had resided there five years. A few half- 
breed log houses were on the prairie, towards St. Anthony's 
falls. Mendota was the only trading establishment of the 
fur company. Around Fort Snelling were three or four 
officers' houses. St. Anthony had a government mill and 
one log house on the west side, and one log house on the 
east side of the falls. Stillwater had a new water saw-mill, 
and about ten buildings. There were a few farms opened 
between Stillwater and St. Paul, and some trading-posts 
along the west bank of the river to Iowa. This was 
Minnesota in 1847. 

On the 3rd of March, 1849, Minnesota, by act of Con- 
gress, received a territorial government. The settlement of 
the new territory was slow until after the treaty with the 
Sioux of 1851, which was amended and finally ratified by 
the President, February 24, 1853. This treaty opened for 
settlement nearly all Minnesota west of the Mississippi. In 
anticipation of the ratification of this treaty, settlers in- 
trigued with officials, and occasionally got permits to trade 
with the Indians, thereby securing advantageous locations 
west of the river; but early in the spring of 1853, the great 
emigrant wave overspread all southern Minnesota, and 
extended high up the Mississippi. From this time the 
settlement continued rapid, and February 26, 1857, Congress 
passed a law allowing the formation of a State government. 
A convention was called, delegates elected, and a constitu- 
tion adopted August 29, 1857. The constitution was ratified 
by the people, by a popular vote taken October 13th, of the 
same year. A peculiarity of this convention was, that in 
the early stages of its sitting, the delegates divided on party 
issues, which led to the division of the convention, and 
continued as two bodies, and each adopted a separate 
constitution. The compromising men of each division then 
put themselves to work to get up a compromise constitution, 




%A-y& 



MINNESOTA. 



377 



and finally succeeded in agreeing on one, which was ratified 
by the people as above stated. The State was admitted 
into the Union by Congress, by act of May 11, 1858. 

By the act of Congress of February 26, 1857, there were 
donated to Minnesota, every sixteenth and thirty-sixth 
section of land in each township for common schools, 
seventy-two sections for a State university, ten sections to 
complete the public buildings, seventy-two sections to 
include twelve salt springs, and five per cent, of the net 
proceeds of the sales of the public lands in the State, for 
internal improvements. 

The following table, from the report of the superintendent 
of public instruction of Minnesota, dated December 31, 
1865, will show the condition of the common schools of 
the State for the years 1864 and 1865 : • 



Whole number of districts 

Whole number of districts reported 

Whole number partially reported 

Whole number entirely unreported 

Whole number of persons from 5 to 21 years. 

Whole number in attendance, males 

Whole number in attendance, females 

Whole number in attendance, both sexes . .. 

Total average daily attendance 

Total number of teachers 

Total'amount paid teachers 

Total number of school -houses 

Total value of school-houses 



1,738 
1,402 

17 
119 

74,965 

23,054 

21,733 

44,787 

26,321 

1,888 

$110,024.97 

994 

$224,500.25 



1865. 



1,824 

1,495 

106 

223 

87,244 

26,165 

24,399 

50,564 

32,259 

2,003 

$124,563.71 

1,112 

$2S0.329.51 



Increase. 



.$14 
$55 



86 
93 

89 
104 

12,279 

3,111 

2,666 

5,777 

5,938 

115 

538.74 

128 

829.26 



The population of Minnesota, which numbered only 6,077 
in 1850, had increased, in 1860, to 173,855 souls. 

The amount distributed in 1865, of the "current school 
fund," was $55,474.10. 

A normal school w r as in successful operation at Winona, 
with fifty-eight students. A State University was located 
at St. Anthony, about 1859, and a building partly erected, 
but abandoned, probably for lack of funds. The writer is 
not advised that it has since been finished. The superin- 
24* 



378 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

tendent's report for 1865 makes no mention of it. There 
are, however, the Hamline University, at Red Wing, be- 
longing to the Methodist Episcopal church ; another at 
Hastings, in charge of the Baptists ; and the North-western 
University at Wasioga, in charge of the Freewill Baptists; 
all of which are doing a good work for collegiate education. 
There are, also, several flourishing academies in different 
parts of the State. 

The first newspaper of Minnesota was called the " St. 
Paul Pioneer," and was started by Mr. Goodhue, from 
Grant county, Wisconsin, April 28, 1849. The "Register" 
was started in July of the same year, the first number of 
which was printed in Cincinnati. About the same time, the 
" Chronicle " was issued at St. Paul. The two latter papers 
were soon after consolidated into the " Chronicle and Reg- 
ister." In 1860, there were: Political, 4 daily, and 43 
weekly papers; Religious, 1 weekly; and Miscellaneous, 1 
weekly, with an aggregate annual circulation of 2,344,000 
copies. 

KANSAS. 

Long previous to the surrender of Canada, the French 
maintained a military post on the Kansas river, but the 
soldiers were withdrawn in 1764. After the region came 
into the possession of the United States, it was, by Act of 
Congress of June 30th, 1834, included in the " Indian 
country," and the most of the north-western tribes of 
Indians were subsequently located in Kansas. By the Act 
of Congress of May 30th, 1854, Kansas territory was 
organized, and a territorial government put in operation. 
By this Act, Congress repealed that portion of the Act of 
March 6th, 1820, which prohibited slavery north of 36° 30', 
north latitude, commonly called the Missouri compromise 
line, and provided that the people of Kansas might establish 
or prohibit slavery, as they might determine in their consti- 
tution. This opened the territory to the colonization 



KANSAS. 379 

schemes of the friends and enemies of slavery, and both 
parties commenced organizing and arming companies, and 
sending them to Kansas. The people of Missouri being 
near at hand, at the time of the first election, went into 
Kansas, took forcible possession of the ballot-boxes at 
several important precincts, and voted so liberally that the 
first election was carried for the pro-slavery party. The 
free State men claimed that the election was carried by 
fraud, and refused to obey the laws passed by the territorial 
legislature. They also appealed to President Buchanan, 
but he turned a deaf ear, and finally took the pro-slavery 
side. The result that followed was a semi-civil war for 
nearly three years, in which mobs, resistance to officers, 
and midnight assassinations, filled the country with violence 
and murders, and the military of the United States were 
often used to preserve peace. The principal leader on the 
part of the pro-slavery men was Mr. Atchison, United 
States senator from Missouri, while James H. Lane and 
John Brown were the leaders of the free State men. 
During this time, armed emigrants came flocking in by 
regiments from north and south, making claims on govern- 
ment lands, and joining in the melee. 

In 1857 the pro-slavery legislature provided for the elec- 
tion of delegates to form a constitution, but with such test 
oaths to the electors that the free State men refused to 
vote. The free State men also called a constitutional con- 
vention, and both parties adopted separate constitutions. 
The pro-slavery party, in their constitution adopted in 
November, 1857, expressly sanctioned slavery, and the 
other constitution abolished it. The two went before Con- 
gress. President Buchanan gave the whole force of his 
administration for the admission of the State under the pro- 
slavery, or Lecompton constitution, while Hon. S. A. 
Douglas, senator from Illinois, the acknowledged author of 
the Act making Kansas a territory, and of the doctrine of 
" Squatter sovereignty," opposed the admission of the State 



380 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

under any constitution, until that constitution had been sub- 
mitted to a fair vote of the people of the territory, and rati- 
fied by a majority. Senator Douglas and his associates 
beat the administration in Congress ; and the pro-slavery, or 
what was called the Lecompton constitution, was submitted 
to a vote of the people of Kansas, and rejected by a large 
majority. 

The free State men thus learning their strength, rallied 
at the next election for members of the legislature, and 
secured a majority of that body. The next summer a new 
convention was called, and, July 29, 1859, adopted a con- 
stitution which they submitted to a vote of the people of 
the territory, October 4th of the same year, who ratified it 
by a large majority. This constitution for ever prohibited 
slavery. It was submitted to Congress in December of the 
same year; but Kansas was not admitted into the Union 
until January 29th, 1861. 

The repeal of the Missouri compromise line, and the 
adoption of the " Squatter sovereignty" doctrine, by which 
the people" of the new territory were to determine for them- 
selves, in their constitution, whether they would have 
slavery or not, was a compromise between the northern and 
southern democrats; but the South having been finally 
beaten in the first experiment under the new doctrine, 
repudiated the whole compromise, and denounced Senator 
Douglas as an abolitionist. When he was nominated for 
President in 1860, they brought forward Mr. Breckenridge, 
thereby dividing the democratic party, and throwing the 
election into the hands of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan gave 
the whole force of his administration against Mr. Douglas' 
election, thus joining hands with the South. The rebellion 
which followed in the spring of 1861, was the inevitable 
result of the previous combinations, and Mr. Douglas and 
his political friends could do nothing less than join Mr. 
Lincoln and the republicans to put down the rebellion. 
The northern supporters of Mr. Breckenridge having 



NEBRASKA. 



381 



denounced Mr. Douglas and his political friends as aboli- 
tionists, were now alarmed at their position, and many of 
them overleaped the democratic party and landed in the 
ranks of the abolitionists ; while another portion became 
southern sympathizers, called "copperheads." A few 
returned to the democratic party, and joined against the 
rebellion. The close of the civil war was the evidence of 
the final death of slavery. 

Kansas, by the Act of January- 29th, 1861, received the 
usual grants from Congress, of sections sixteen and thirty- 
six in each township, for common schools; seventy-two 
sections for a university; ten sections for public buildings; 
twelve salt springs, with seventy-two sections of land ; and 
five per cent, of the net proceeds of the sale of the public 
lands in the State. The State is so new that the educational 
interests are not fully developed; and the breaking out of 
the rebellion so soon after the admission of the State, 
required all the energies of its inhabitants to protect their 
lives and property. They suffered to a considerable extent 
from rebel raids. 

The progress of the State in population was very rapid, 
in part owing to the excitement on the slavery question ; 
and, by the census of 1860, while still a territory, it was 
reported as having 107,206 inhabitants, of which only two 
were slaves. 

Kansas also showed a rapid advance in newspapers, 
having, in 1860: Political, 3 daily and 21 weekly; and, 
Miscellaneous, 3 weekly; total 27, with an aggregate 
annual circulation of 1,565,540 copies. 



NEBRASKA. 



This State derives its name from one of its rivers, which, 
in the Omaha dialect of the Winnebago, is said to mean 
" spreading water," or " wide, shallow water." 

It was organized as a territory by the " Nebraska Act," 



382 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

passed by Congress May 30th, 1854, as a part of the great 
" Squatter Sovereignty Compromise ;" but as the slave- 
holders did not attempt to colonize it, the territory was 
suffered to settle according to the ordinary laws of emigra- 
tion, and, in 1860, had only 28,841 inhabitants, while the 
sister territory of Kansas numbered 107,206. The popula- 
tion in 1867 was only estimated at 40,000. 

The question of the admission of Nebraska as a State 
was seriously agitated in 1863, and April 19th, the following 
year, Congress passed an enabling Act. Under this Act a 
convention was held, and a constitution framed, which was 
ratified by the people by only 100 majority on a vote polled 
of 7,776, June 2nd, 1866. This constitution was presented 
to Congress, and on the 8th and 9th of February, 1867, an 
Act was passed, under which the territory became a State, 
March 1st, 1867, as recited in the following proclamation: 

" The Admission of Nebraska — Proclamation of the Presi- 
dent. 

" Washington, March 1st, 1867. 

" Whereas the Congress of the United States did, by an 
Act approved on the 19th day of April, 1864, authorize the 
people of the territory of Nebraska to form a constitution 
and State government, and for the admission of such State 
into the Union on an equal footing with the original States 
upon certain conditions in said Act specified ; and whereas 
said people did adopt a constitution conforming to the pro- 
visions and conditions of said Act, and ask admission into 
the Union ; and whereas the Congress of the United States 
did, on the 8th and 9th days of February, 1867, in the 
mode prescribed by the constitution, pass a further Act for 
the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union, in 
which last named Act it was provided that it should not 
take effect except upon like fundamental conditions that 
within the State of Nebraska there should be no denial of 



NEBRASKA. 3 ^3 



the elective franchise, or of any other right to any person 
by reason of race or color, except Indians not taxed; and 
upon the further fundamental condition that the legislature 
of said State, by a solemn public Act, should declare the 
assent of said State to the said fundamental condition, and 
should transmit to the President of the United States an 
authenticated copy of said Act of the legislature of said 
State, upon receipt whereof the President, by proclamation, 
should forthwith announce the fact, whereupon said funda- 
mental condition should be held as a part of the organic law 
of the State, and thereupon, and without any further pro- 
ceedings on the part of Congress, the admission of said 
State into the -Union should be considered as complete; 
and whereas, within the time prescribed by said Act of 
Congress of the 8th and 9th of February, 1867, the legis- 
lature of the State of Nebraska did pass an Act ratifying 
the said Act of Congress of the 8th and 9th of February, 
1867, and declaring that the aforenamed provisions of the 
third section of said last named Act of Congress should be 
a part of the organic law of the State of Nebraska ; and 
whereas a duly authenticated copy of said Act of the legis- 
lature of the State of Nebraska has been received by me, 

" Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the 
United States of America, do, in accordance with the pro- 
visions of the Act of Congress last herein named, declare 
and proclaim the fact that the fundamental conditions 
imposed by Congress on the State of Nebraska to entitle 
that State to admission to the Union have been ratified and 
accepted, and that the admission of the said State into the 
Union is now complete. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

"Done at the city of Washington, this first day of March, 
in the year of our Lord 1867, and of the independence of 
the United States of America the ninety-first. 

" By the President : " Andrew Johnson. 

" William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 



334 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



COLORADO TERRITORY. 



The discovery of gold near " Pike's Peak," of the 
Rocky mountains, attracted great numbers of miners to 
that region, and Congress, February 28, 1861, granted them 
a territorial government with the following boundaries : 
" Commencing on the thirty-seventh parallel of north lati- 
tude, where the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west 
from Washington crosses the same ; thence, north on said 
meridian to the forty-first parallel of north latitude ; thence, 
along said parallel, west to the thirty-second meridian of 
longitude west from Washington ; thence, south on said 
meridian, to the north line of New Mexico ; thence, along 
the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude, to the place of 
beginning." 

The organic act for Colorado contained the usual pro- 
visions made for other territories, and the government was 
speedily put in operation. 

The rapid settlement of the territory soon established the 
necessity of a more permanent organization ; and, therefore, 
March 21, 1864, Congress passed an act authorizing the 
people of the territory to form a constitution preparatory to 
their admission into the Union. A constitution was adopted, 
but by so small a majority of the people, and the census of 
the people being considerably less than was anticipated, the 
new State had not been admitted up to June, 1867. 

Population of the territory in 1860, 34,197. 

DAKOTA TERRITORY. 

The Indian traders, having been pressed back to the 
upper Missouri by the advancing civilization, Congress 
decided to give them a territorial government; and March 
2, 1861, the territory of Dakota was organized, with the 
following boundaries: 

" Commencing at a point in the main channel of the Red 



DAKOTA TERRITORY. 385 

river of the north, where the forty-ninth degree of north 
latitude crosses the same ; thence, up the main channel of 
the same, and along the boundary of the State of Minnesota 
to Big Stone Lake ; thence, along the boundary line of the 
said State of Minnesota, to the Iowa line ; thence, along 
the boundary line of the State of Iowa to the point of 
intersection between the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers ; 
thence, up the Missouri river, and along the boundary line 
of the territory of Nebraska, to the mouth of the Niobrara 
or Running Water river ; thence, following up the same, 
in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the mouth 
of the Keha Paha or Turtle Hill river ; thence, up said river, 
to the forty-third parallel of north latitude ; thence, due west, 
to the present boundary of the territory of Washington ; 
thence, along the boundary line of Washington territory, to 
the forty-ninth degree of north latitude ; thence, east, along 
said forty-ninth degree of north latitude, to the place of 
beginning." 

By another act of Congress, passed May 26, 1864, the 
following additional territory was attached to Dakota: 

" Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of 
the thirty-third degree of longitude west from Washington 
with the forty-first degree of north latitude ; thence, along 
said thirty-third degree of longitude, to the crest of the 
Rocky mountains ; thence, northward along said crest of the 
Rocky mountains, to its intersection with the forty-fourth 
degree and thirty minutes of north latitude ; thence, east- 
ward, along said forty-fourth degree thirty minutes north 
latitude, to the thirty-fourth degree of longitude west from 
Washington; thence, northward, along said thirty-fourth 
degree of longitude, to its intersection with the forty-fifth 
degree north latitude; thence, eastward, along said forty- 
fifth degree of north latitude, to its intersection with the 
twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington ; 
thence, south, along said twenty-seventh degree of longi- 
tude west from Washington, to the forty-first degree north 
25 



386 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

latitude ; thence, west, along said forty-first degree of lati- 
tude, to the place of beginning, shall be, and is hereby, 
incorporated temporarily into and made part of the territory 
of Dakota." 

The Sioux war, which broke out in 1862, has stopped the 
settlement of the country, and up to the present time (June, 
1867), the few white inhabitants are confined to the military 
posts. 

MONTANA TERRITORY. 

A new " gold fever " having taken possession of the 
miners, a rush was made to the Rocky mountains, at the 
head-waters of the Missouri, and the usual consequence of 
the organization of a new territory followed. This act was 
passed by Congress May 26, 1864, and gave the following 
boundaries to the new territory of Montana : 

" Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of 
the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Wash- 
ington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; thence, 
due west, on said forty-fifth degree of latitude, to a point 
formed by its intersection with the thirty-fourth degree of 
longitude west from Washington ; thence, due south, along 
said thirty-fourth degree of longitude, to its intersection 
with the forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north 
latitude ; thence, due west, along said forty-fourth degree 
and thirty minutes of north latitude, to a point formed by 
its intersection with the crest of the Rocky mountains ; 
thence, following the crest of the Rocky mountains north- 
ward, till its intersection with the Bitter Root mountains ; 
thence, northward, along the crest of said Bitter Root 
mountains, to its intersection with the thirty-ninth degree 
of longitude west from Washington ; thence, along said 
thirty-ninth degree of longitude, northward to the boundary 
line of the British possessions ; thence, eastward, along said 
boundary line, to the twenty-seventh degree of longitude 
west from Washington; thence, southward, along said 



MONTANA TERRITORY. 387 

twenty-seventh degree of longitude, to the place of begin- 
ning." 14- 

This new region has received a considerable population, 
but the Sioux war has greatly retarded its progress. It is 
said, however, that the miners have been somewhat suc- 
cessful in the collection of the precious metals. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 

The original discovery of the Mississippi was claimed by 
nearly every new traveler who visited its shores at different 
periods, for nearly one hundred and fifty years, each of 
whom sought to immortalize some personal friend, or honor 
some spiritual patron, by bestowing his or her name upon 
this magnificent river. But who is entitled to the credit of 
its discovery has been left in some doubt ; and in tracing 
back the claims of La Salle, Hennepin, Marquette, De Soto, 
and others, we are inclined to award the honor to Alvarez 
Alonzo De Pineda, who, with four vessels, appears, in 
Spanish history, to have sailed along the north coast of the 
Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Mexico, in 1519, and who 
marked on the map of the expedition the mouth of a large 
river from the north, which he named Rio Del Espiritu 
Santo, or river of the Holy Ghost. Spanish history also 
relates, that Pamphilo De Narvaez, with his adventurers 
from Florida, having been abandoned by his fleet, attempted 
to escape to Mexico in hastily constructed boats, and on the 
way entered the mouth of a "very great river of sweet 
water" from the north, in October, 1528. 

But the history of the expedition of De Soto settles the 
fact beyond a doubt, that that adventurer struck the 
Mississippi in latitude about 34° north, on the 25th of 
April, 1541. The historians of that expedition applied 
to the river the names of Saint Esprit, and Rio Grande, 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 389 

but De La Vega stated, on the authority of Juan Coles, one 
of De Soto's followers, that the Indian name was Chu-ca-gua, 
and marked the river on the map of the expedition by that 
name. The meaning of the Indian name was not given by 
De La Vega, but the reader will discover a great similarity 
between that word and Che-o-kah, the present Choctaw 
word for " great water." Chu-ca-gua was the name applied 
to the river on the French map of Sanson in 1674, following 
the Spanish authority. 

In the north, the Algonquin nations heard of "the great 
river " from the O-chunk-o-raws, of Green Bay, but under- 
standing it as " the great water," which, according to their 
knowledge, was salt ; they therefore named that tribe the 
Winnebagoec, or " people of the sea." The early French 
made the same mistake; hence Mcolet, in 1639, called the 
same tribe the Gens De Mer, and the Rev. Father Le 
Mercier, Jesuit Superior at Quebec, in a letter dated Sep- 
tember 21, 1654, wrote that he had learned by "letters, that 
it is only nine days' journey from this great lake (Green 
Bay) to the sea that separates America from China." 

In tracing the French explorations and discoveries, we 
find the Rev. Father Claude Allouez, the Wisconsin Jesuit 
missionary, near the head of Lake Superior, writing in his 
journal, in 1665, of the Illinois Indians, whose " country is 
more than sixty leagues from here, towards the south, and 
beyond, a great river that discharges itself, as near as I can 
conjecture, into the sea towards Virginia." In speaking of 
the Nadouesioux, the same authority says : " This is a 
tribe that dwells to the west of this, towards the great river 
called MessipV 

After this, the Jesuit missionaries in the north-west often 
wrote of the " Great river," and the " Missisipi," until they 
induced the Governor of Canada to fit out an expedition 
specially for its exploration. This expedition was placed in 
the charge of Sieur Jollyet, with the Rev. Father James 
Marquette, then stationed at Mackinaw, as missionary and 



3 90 upper Mississippi. 

interpreter. It was organized early in 1673, at Mackinaw, 
with bark canoes and five voyageurs, and passed by way of 
Green Bay and the Wisconsin river, and reached the great 
river at Prairie Du Chien, June 17th, of the same year. 
From that point they floated down this magnificent river, 
visiting the several tribes on its banks, until they arrived at 
the Arkansas river, when they turned back and reached 
Mackinaw the same season, by way of the Illinois river and 
Lake Michigan. Marquette was the historian of the expe- 
dition, and named the great river " De la Conception" and 
in explanation said : " Above all, I put our voyage under 
the protection of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising 
her, that if she did us the grace to discover the great river, 
I would give it the name of Conception." 

Our next French explorer was the Rev. Father Louis 
Hennepin, a Recollect missionary belonging to the party of 
La Salle. He was dispatched by that officer from the fort 
on the Illinois river with two companions in bark canoes, 
and reached the great river, at the mouth of the Illinois, 
March 8th, 1680. From thence they journeyed up the Missis- 
sippi a few days, were then made prisoners by a war party 
of the Sioux, and taken to Mille Lac, at the head of Rum 
river. During the summer they were redeemed by Sieur 
De Lut, who had reached the great river from Lake 
Superior with a small guard of soldiers, and Hennepin and 
companions were taken back to Mackinaw. Father Hen- 
nepin, in his published journal, called the great river 
" Colbert," in honor of Jean Baptiste Colbert, the Marquis 
De Seignelai, who was then the French Secretary of Marine 
and the Colonies. 

The main expedition of the Cavalier Robert De La Salle, 
which had been gotten up with great cost and labor to 
thoroughly explore the great river, was long delayed by the 
wreck of the supply ship, the " Griffin," and the revival of the 
war between the Iroquois and the Illinois Indians ; and that 
indomitable officer and his party only reached the great 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 391 

river on the 6th of February, 1682. On the 13th of the 
same month they launched their canoes on the mighty river, 
and the 7th of the following month found La Salle recon- 
noitering the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. On the 9th day of 
April, 1682, La Salle took formal possession of the country 
and rivers " in the name of the most, high, mighty, invin- 
cible, and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the grace 
of God, king of France and Navarre, fourth of that name," 
etc. He called the country " Louisiana," in honor of his 
prince, and the great river " River Colbert, or Mississippi." 

As the name " Mississippi," of French orthography, 
became finally established as the name of the great river, 
and as that word has often been interpreted as meaning the 
" Father of waters," we in this connection say that the 
word is composed, in the Illinois dialect, of Michau, great, 
and Sippi, river; which the Chippeways contracted for 
euphony to " Mississippi" of French, or " Mee-zee-see-bee" 
of English orthography. Mr. Schoolcraft constructed the 
word from the duplication of Miss, great, — meaning great- 
great. In this construction, Mr. Schoolcraft forgets that in 
another place in his history of the Indian tribes, he says 
that the Chippeways use Michau, for great, when applied 
to land or water. But if that tribe do sometimes use the 
word Miss, for great, and Sippi, for river, the Chippeway 
rules which he gives for euphony, — viz. : when two conson- 
ants come together, a vowel must be iuserted between the 
syllables, — will explain the combination and make the word 
Mis-si-sippi, or, in English orthography, Mee-zee-see-bee. 

That • the word simply means " great river," is strength- 
ened by the fact that the same name has been given to it 
by the other tribes ; for we find the river called Kee-che-se- 
be by the Ottawas, Me-chaw-se-poo by the Sacs, Foxes, and 
Potowatomies, Pah-kah-poo-se-bee by the Menomonies, JVe- 
coos- hut-tar aw, by the Winnebagoes, and Wat-pah-tan- 
kah by the Sioux. But we will pass from this subject to 
the physical character of the great river. 



392 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



The Mississippi has its source in the numerous springs 
that burst forth from the hauteurs de terre, or dividin^ 
ridge between the Itasca lake and Red river, and flow into 
that lake, where they become united, and start on their 
tortuous course for the ocean. The Itasca lake is in lati- 
tude 47° 13' N., and longitude 95° 2' west of Greenwich. 

Table of Distances and Altitudes on the Mississippi, compiled by 
Nicolet and Fremont. 



FROM THE GULF TO 

New Orleans - 

Red River - 

Natchez light-house 

Yazoo - 

Montgomery Landing - 

New Madrid 

Ohio river - 

Cape Girardeau 

St. Genevieve - 

Cathedral, St. Louis 

Illinois river - 

Des Moines river 

Montrose - 

Burlington - 

Rock Island - 

Head Upper rapids - 

Dunleith - 

Prairie Du Chien - - ■ 

La Crosse - 

Hammand's, Black river 

Mt. Trempealeau 

Roque's, Wabashaw 

Head Lake Pepin 

St. Croix river 

St. Paul 

Minnesota river - 

U. S. Cottage, St. Anthony 

Rum river - 

Crow river - 

Watab river 

Crow-wing river 

Pine river - 

Sandy Lake river 

Leach Lake river 

Old trading house, Cass lake 

Schoolcraft I., Itasca lake 

Dividing ridge - 



Distance, 


Altitude, 


miles. 


feet. 


104 


* 


340 


7 6 


406 


86 


534 




755 


202 


1,115 




1,216 


324 


1,257 




i,33o 




i,39° 


3S4 


1,426 




i,594 


444 


1,609 




1,639 




1,722 


526 


i,737 


554 


1,861 




i,932 


642 


2,014 




2,035 


683 


2,042 




2,084 




2,115 


714 


2,150 


723 


2,186 




2,192 


744 


2,200 


856 


2,219 




2,229 




2,305 




2,381 


1,130 


2,429 


1,176 


2,526 


i,253 


2,675 


i,356 


2,755 


1,402 


2,890 


i,575 


2,896 


1,680 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 393 

By the foregoing table, it will be observed that the dis- 
tance from Prairie Du Chien to Minnesota river is given at 
two hundred and sixty miles, but on many steam-boat cards 
it is put at three hundred and eight miles, a difference of 
forty-eight miles. As great a discrepancy will probably be 
found between other points. 

The increase of the altitude on the river is too gentle to 
impede the navigation, except at certain points, as follows : 
The lower, or Des Moines rapids, are about eleven miles 
long, with a fall of twenty-four feet; the upper, or Rock 
river rapids are about fourteen miles long, with a fall, 
according to Captain Lee, of about twenty-six feet. These 
rapids are made by ledges of lime-rock passing under the 
river, and are very difficult to pass at low water, even with 
light steamers. The rapids from the mouth of St. Peter's, 
or Minnesota river, to St. Anthony's falls are about eight 
miles in length, and steamers can seldom go nearer than 
within four miles of the falls. St. Anthony's falls are about 
twenty feet perpendicular height. Above the falls, steamers 
run to Sauk rapids, about seventy miles, in a good stage of 
water, where steam navigation practically stops ; although, 
in 1859, a small steamer passed the Sauk rapids and Little 
falls, and reached nearly to the Falls of Pokegoma, a dis- 
tance of three hundred and fifty miles above St. Anthony. 
Canoe navigation reaches the Itasca lake by making port- 
ages past the several falls. 

The Mississippi, from Cairo to St. Anthony's falls, appears 
to have scooped out itself a channel, averaging perhaps two 
miles wide, and from one to four hundred feet deep, in the 
otherwise comparatively level country; thereby creating 
the impression on the mind of the traveler that the Falls of 
St. Anthony might have originally been below St. Louis, 
but rapidly receding by the disintegration of the sand rocks 
until it reached its present site. Indeed, the falls are known 
to be still traveling up stream, but as the strata of sandstone 
25* 



394 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

has nearly run out, it is supposed that its locomotion will 
nearly, if not quite, cease at the end of the next mile. 

But the great river, being unable to hold the position 
which it had assumed in its rampant days, finally subsided 
into a main channel, about half a mile wide, with other 
smaller channels, called sloughs, leaving much of the two 
miles or more in width, to emerge from the water, and the 
higher portions to form sandy prairies for town sites and 
cultivated fields, while the lower portions form timbered 
bottoms and islands. At Lake Pepin, however, the rampant 
river, being pressed nearer together by two opposite flinty 
promontories, ploughed deeper in the earth, and scooped 
out a beautiful lake about twenty-two miles long, which still 
holds its own, and has become classical with Indian legends. 
Indeed, we believe the Roman calendar of saints might be 
doubled, if proper research were made among the Indian 
legends of the north-west. 

Below the mouth of the Ohio river, the main channel 
does not much exceed half a mile in width, but increases in 
depth, and the timbered bottoms often extend thirty miles 
before the higher table land is reached. 

The rise and fall of the water of the Mississippi, above 
the Missouri, is generally periodical. The first high water 
of the year is in the spring, soon after the clearing out of 
the ice, and usually commences about the second week in 
April, and subsides by the middle of May. The second 
high water is called the " June rise," and commences about 
the first of June, and extends into July. The first rise of 
water is caused by the melting of the snow and ice in the 
first warm weather in the spring ; while the " June rise " is 
caused in the same manner, when the warm weather of 
summer penetrates into the cold, swampy, timbered country 
on the head-waters of the Mississippi, Rum, St. Croix, Chip- 
peway, Black, and Wisconsin rivers, where the snow falls- 
deep in winter, and remains until the heat of the summer is 
somewhat advanced. There are exceptions to the general 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 395 

rule, as in 1852, when the month of April being unusually 
warm, the heat penetrated the icy swamps of the hyper- 
borean regions, creating in May the highest flood for several 
years. The consequence was, that we failed to get the 
"June Rise." Seasons like 1863 sometimes occur when 
bat little snow tails in the winter, and the spring and 
summer floods both fail. Local floods may occur from 
heavy rains, but these seldom extend far enough to much 
affect the Mississippi. 

In the annals of the country, we find notices of great 
floods, the first of which, in April, 1728, flooded the French 
Fort Beauharnais, on the north side of Lake Pepin, which 
the Sioux said was the highest water they ever knew. Mr. 
Nicolet, speaking of the flood of 1785, said: 

" This year is called Vannee de grands eaux — the year 
of the great flood. In the month of April, the waters of the 
Mississippi rose fifteen or twenty feet above the highest 
mark they had ever been known to reach at St. Louis, and 
at some narrow parts of the river, as high as thirty feet. 
The whole region of country drained by the Mississippi, to 
its mouth, presented the aspect of an immense sheet of water 
studded with islands. The village of St. Genevieve, Fort 
Chartres, Kaskaskia, St. Phillippe, Cahokia, etc., were 
totally submerged ; and the inhabitants, who had fled to the 
hills that overlooked the rich bottoms, interchanged visits 
by water from the rocky bluffs of the right side of the river 
to the hills that border the Kaskaskia." 

The great flood of 1826 was the highest of more modern 
times in the upper country ; the water at Prairie Du Chien 
reaching twenty-six feet above low water. The flood of 1832 
was eighteen feet at the same place, and in 1852 the water 
rose sixteen feet at La Crosse. In 1835 the flood reached 
fifty-two feet at Natchez. But the height to which a flood 
may reach in any given place, of course depends on the 
width of the river bottoms at such place, and the same 
flood will reach different heights at different localities. 



396 TTPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

The depth of the river at low water, except on the bars, 
between Dunleith and St. Paul, is about twelve feet, and on 
the bars often less than three feet. In passing below Dun- 
leith, the water does not increase much in depth until it 
receives the accession of the Missouri, when it seems to 
take new impetus, and rushes on boldly to the ocean. At 
New Orleans, the river, at low water, is about one hundred 
and thirteen feet deep. We can not give the depth of water 
at Memphis, but there is nothing visible of the confederate 
fleet of war steamers sunk there June 6, 1862, by the United 
States gun-boats, but majestic steamers now sweep along, 
meeting with no obstructions from the bristling gun-boats, 
or tall smoke chimneys, silent as death in the depths below. 

First among the tributaries of the Mississippi, for its 
usefulness and beauty, stands the Ohio. As the warlike 
Iroquois floated down its gentle current, watching for spoils 
along its flowery banks, and seeking enemies on whom he 
might revenge a lost relative, he became absorbed in the 
magnificent scenery, and shouted his ecstatic O-ee-o, O-ee-o. 
The French took up the word, clothed it in its modern 
orthography, and translated it "La Belle." The English 
have retained the French orthography, and render the word, 
" The Beautiful ; " and beautiful, indeed, it is in song and 
story ; and beautiful will it remain until the iron hoof of 
time shall wear out its earthy cradle, or its mountain sources 
shall be dried up. 

This river was first visited at its mouth by Marquette, in 
1673 ; but he mistook it for the Wabash, and probably his 
Illinois interpreter only knew of the Wabash, and not of 
the Ohio. 

" The Beautiful " river has its western source in Chatau- 
que lake, not distant seven miles from Lake Erie, with an 
altitude above the latter lake of about seven hundred feet, 
and above tide water of thirteen hundred feet. The eastern, 
or Alleghany mountain source, is near Coudersport, Penn- 
sylvania. According to C. Ellet, Jr., Esq., civil engineer, 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 397 

the distances and fall of the river to the Gulf of Mexico are 

as follows : 

Distances and Altitudes on the Ohio River. 





Distance 


Fall in 




in miles. 


feet. 


Coudersport to Olean Point - 


40 


246 


Olean Point to Warren - 


50 


2l6 


Warren to Franklin - 


70 


227 


Franklin to Pittsburg - v 


130 


26l 


Pittsburg to Beaver - 


26 


■ 30 


Beaver to Wheeling - 


62 


49 


Wheeling to Marietta - - - - 


90 


49 


Marietta to Le Tart's Shoals 


3 1 


16 


Le Tart's Shoals to Kanawha - 


55 


33 


Kanawha to Portsmouth - 


94 


48 


Portsmouth to Cincinnati - 


105 


42 


Cincinnati to Evansville - 


328 


112 


Evansville to Gulf - 


1.365 


320 


Coudersport to Gulf— Total 


2,446 


1,649 



By an examination of this table, it will be seen that the 
fall from Olean Point to Pittsburg, in low water, is on an 
average, about two feet ten inches per mile ; from Pittsburg 
to Evansville, about five and two-tenths inches per mile, and 
from Evansville to Gulf, about two and eight-tenths inches 
per mile. As steamboats, in high water, have been as high 
as Olean Point, it will be observed that they are capable of 
overcoming a fall of four feet and four inches per mile, as 
that is the average fall between that point and Warren. 

Itasca lake, the source of the Mississippi, having an alti- 
tude above the Gulf of 1,575 feet, and Olean Point of 1,403 
feet, it will be observed that steam navigation on the Ohio 
has already reached an altitude within 172 feet of the main 
source of the Mississippi. 

The greatest flood of the Ohio known, occurred in 
February, 1832, when the river attained a height of thirty- 
one feet at Pittsburg, forty-four and one-half at Wheeling, 
and sixty-three at Cincinnati, above its summer level. This 



398 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



flood reached its highest mark along the river, at the follow- 
ing dates: Pittsburg, February 10; Wheeling, 88 miles, 
February 11, in evening ; Marietta, 176 miles, February 13, 
at noon; Maysville, 405 miles, February 16, at night; Cin- 
cinnati, 460 miles, February 17, at midnight ; and Louisville, 
613 miles, February 21, in morning. By this statement, it 
appears that the flood moved from Pittsburg to Cincinnati 
at the rate of about two and one-half miles an hour, a 
velocity much less than the center current of the river at 
high water. 

The Missouri river, called by the Algonquins, JPekitanoui, 
or Muddy water, and by Father Membre, the " Ozage 
river," is next to the Ohio in its present commerce, but as 
its valley settles up with emigrants, it will increase with 
great rapidity, and possibly rival the Mississippi itself. 

The following are the distances from the Gulf of Mexico, 
and altitudes above tide water, of the several points here- 
after named, as given by Mr. Nicolet and others : 

Distances and Altitudes on the Missouri river. 







Distance 


Altitude 


FROM 


GULF TO 


in miles. 


in feet. 


Mouth Missouri - 


_ 


1,408 


388 


Boonville 


- 


1,604 


530 


Fort Leavenworth 


_ 


1,820 


746 


Piatt River - 


- 


2,026 




Council Bluffs 


_ 


2,084 


1,024 


Fort Pierre 


_ 


2,664 


1,456 


Fort Union 


_ 


3.277 


2,019 


Fort Benton - 


. 


3,8o 5 


2,780 


Highwood Creek 


_ 


3,820 




Great Falls - 


_ 


3,835 




Cadott's Pass, Rocky mountains 


3-9°3 


6,044 


Sources Missouri 


- 


4>3Qo 





These facts show that the Missouri is nearly 1,410 miles 
longer than the Mississippi, and that it is already navigated 
to an altitude about 1,225 feet above Itasca lake, the main 
source of the latter river. 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 399 

The late Governor Stevens said, in his report on the 
Pacific Railroad route, that the Missouri had been navi- 
gated to Fort Union for the last thirty years, by steamers 
carrying five hundred to six hundred tons freight, and 
drawing from three to four feet of water; that such 
steamers had often ascended as high as Milk river; and 
that steamers of two hundred tons burthen can easily go as 
high as Highwood creek, within fifteen miles of the Great 
falls. 

The Great falls extend eleven and a half miles, with five 
principal cascades, with rapids between, with a total 
descent of one hundred and sixty feet. The principal cas- 
cades descend successively twenty-five, five, forty-two, 
twelve, and seventy-six feet. The three principal forks of 
the Missouri above the falls are called Gallatin, Madison, 
and Jefferson, and have their several sources in the Rocky 
mountains far to the south of the Great falls. 

The clay mud that colors the Missouri, as well as the 
Mississippi after the junction of the two, is mainly derived 
from the Yellow Stone, a tributary that forms a junction 
with the Missouri at Fort Union. It is a stream of some 
importance, and is reported navigable for two hundred 
miles. 

The other principal tributaries of the Mississippi are the 
Red, Arkansas, Illinois, Des Moines, Rock, Wisconsin, 
Iowa, Black, Chippeway, St. Croix, and Minnesota. The 
first two named are each understood to be navigable over 
1,000 miles by steamers. The number of miles the Missis- 
sippi and its tributaries are navigable by steamboats has 
been variously estimated at from 10,000 to 15,000 miles, 
while the keel-boat navigation is much more extensive. 

The late Hon. Thomas H. Benton, in his letter to the 
Chicago convention, dated June 10th, 1847, on this subject 
remarked : " Many years ago the late Governor Clark and 
myself undertook to calculate the extent of the boatable 
water in the valley of the Mississippi ; we made it about 



400 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

50,000 miles, of which 30,000 were computed to unite above 
St. Louis, and 20,000 below. Of course, we counted all the 
infant streams on which a flat, a keel, or a batteau could be 
floated, and justly; for every tributary of the humblest 
boatable character helps to swell not only the volume of the 
central waters but of the commerce upon them." 

The original canoe of the Indian w r as superseded by the 
batteaux of the early French voyageurs. The Spanish often 
used galleys of forty oars each in navigating the Mississippi, 
ten of which came from New Orleans to St. Louis with 
troops in 1797. The early settlers of the Mississippi valley 
f<jr many years carried their produce and stock to market, 
at New Orleans, in large, flat-bottom boats and arks, that 
floated down the river with no other propelling power than 
the ordinary current. The batteaux are now commonly 
called the Mackinaw boats, and carry from three-quarters 
to three tons. The flat bottoms are often called barges, and 
carry from thirty to one hundred tons. The writer has no 
data from which he can tell the number of tons burthen of 
the flat-bottom boat originally navigated by our illustrious 
late President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. 

At the period of the introduction of steamers on the Mis- 
sissippi, in 1812, the whole commerce from New Orleans to 
the upper country was transported in about twenty barges, 
making but one trip each year. The number of keel boats 
on the Ohio was about one hundred and sixty. The total 
tonnage, from 6,000 to 7,000 tons. 

The first steamboat in the Mississippi valley was built at 
Pittsburg, and launched in October, 1811, called the " New 
Orleans." It was run to Louisville, where it was detained 
by low water for some three weeks, and in the mean time 
made several trips to Cincinnati. The last week in Novem- 
ber it resumed its trip down the river, was nearly over- 
whelmed by an earthquake, but finally reached Natchez at 
the close of the first week in January, 1812. Having been 
built to run between Natchez and New Orleans, it probably 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 401 

run on that line, and was said to have been of service to 
General Jackson at the great battle at New Orleans, January 
8th, 1815, but evidently did not attract much attention, as 
some have doubted its ever reaching the Mississippi, and 
have dated the commencement of steam navigation on the 
Mississippi in 1817. 

Eleven other steamers were built on the Ohio in the five 
years following 1811, with a total tonnage of 2,235. 

The first steamboat which arrived at St. Louis was in 
1819. The first steamer to St. Peter's river was the " Vir- 
ginia," one hundred and eighteen feet long, and drawing 
six feet of water, which arrived in May, 1823, with Major 
Taliafero, our Indian agent, and Count Beltrami, as passen- 
gers. From this period they began to increase rapidly. In 
1834 the number of steamers on the Mississippi and tribu- 
taries was two hundred and thirty, with a tonnage of 
39,000. In 1840, two hundred and eighty-five, with a ton- 
nage of 49,800. In 1845, the tonnage had increased to 
159,713. 

According to the report of the Treasury department of 
the United States for the year ending June 30th, 1859, the 
enrolled tonnage in steam navigation in the several districts 
in the Mississippi valley was as follows : 

Tonnage. 

New Orleans ----- 57>790 

Nashville ----- 5,120 

Memphis ----- 7,926 

Louisville ----- 29,627 

St. Louis ----- 54*5*5 

Galena ------ 5,362 

Cincinnati ----- 25,683 

Wheeling ----- 13,480 

Pittsburg ----- 40,550 

Total tonnage of steamers - - - 258,053 

When we add the tonnage of other vessels, the total at 
each point is as follows : 
26 



402 

New Orleans 

Nashville 

Memphis 

Louisville - 

St. Louis 

Galena 

Cincinnati 

Wheeling 

Pittsburg 



UPPER MISSISSIPP 



Total of tonnage 



Tonnage. 

2I5.4I7 

5,120 

7,926 

29,627 

60,760 

5.362 

29.515 
13,480 

55.576 
- 422,783 



From this it appears that the most of the ship and canal- 
boat building is confined to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, 
and New Orleans. This latter city being connected with 
the commerce of the ocean, does nearly twice the amount 
of ship building that it does of steamboat building. 

The report of the Treasurer does not give the number of 
steamers enrolled; but it is estimated in the report of 1851, 
on the colonial and lake trade, that the Ohio boats average 
about 206^- tons ; and those on the Mississippi and Missouri, 
27 3 J tons. If we average them at 240 tons, we have 1,075 
steamboats running on the Mississippi and its tributaries, 
with a total tonnage of 258,053 for the year 1859. 

The boats manufactured the same year are given as 
follows : 






a 


A 


CO 


s- 2 
d 

on — 


00 

a 
a 

m 


s 

bo 


H 


Pittsburg - - - - 
Wheeling - 




8 


29 


4.588 

i,5" 


Cincinnati - - - - 


I 


20 


15 


6,999 


Louisville - 






19 


3.702 


Paducah - 






I 


114 


Galena - 






I 


153 


St. Louis - - - - 






2 


154 


New Orleans - 


IO 


2 


2 


795 


Total .... 


II 


30 


S3 


18,016 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 403 

By this statement it appears that all the schooners but 
one were built at New Orleans, and that nearly one-third 
of the steamers were manufactured at Pittsburg, one-sixth 
at Wheeling, over one-sixth at Cincinnati, over one-fourth 
at Louisville, and only one fortieth at either St. Louis or 
New Orleans. Also, that most of the steamers were built 
on the Ohio, and of a much less tonnage than the previous 
average. 

The progress of steam navigation on the upper Mississippi 
was extremely slow at first. From 1823 to 1844, only one 
or two trips a year were made to Fort Snelling, to carry 
supplies to the troops, and for the Indian trade. In 1844, 
the number of arrivals at the fort were forty-one. From 
1844 to 1847, the little steamers Otter, Rock River, and 
Lynx, were the principal boats in this trade. 

In 1847, on the 8th day of July, the Galena and Minne- 
sota Packet Company was organized at Galena by the 
following persons, who became the company : 

Captain Orrin Smith, Galena ; Henry Corwith, Galena ; 
B. H. Campbell, Galena; Captain M.W. Lodwick, Galena; 
Captain R. Blakesly, Galena; Colonel H. L. Dousman, 
Prairie Du Chien ; B. W. Brisbois, Prairie Du Chien ; Hon. 
H. H. Sibley, St. Paul; Hon. H. M. Rice, St. Paul. 

The first boat purchased by this company was the 
"Argo," of only sixty tons burthen, which was run in the 
St. Paul trade until October of the same year, when it ran 
against a snag, and sunk a little above Winona. 

The next boat was the "Dr. Franklin," purchased the 
winter of 1847-48 for $13,500, and put into the trade in the 
spring of 1848. In 1849 the " Senator" was added to the 
line, but in the fall was sold, and replaced by the " Nome- 
nee," which was run by Captain O. Smith, the late president 
of the company. It was not run as a Sunday boat. At 
twelve o'clock Saturday night, Captain Smith would tie up 
his boat to an island, or whatever place he was near, and 
remain until twelve o'clock Sunday night. When the boat 



404 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

stopped at a little village, the Captain would invite any 
clergyman that might be found, to preach, on the Sabbath, 
on the boat. Rev. Mr. Chester, of the Methodist church, 
once enjoyed the Captain's hospitality at La Crosse, in the 
fall of 1851, and held morning service. The "Nomenee," 
however, suffered the fate of its more unchristian brothers, 
and was snagged and sunk in the fall of 1854, forty miles 
below La Crosse. 

The " Ben Campbell " was built in the winter of 1851-52, 
and put in the trade in the spring, but drew too much water, 
and was sold in the fall of 1852. During the season of 1852, 
an opposition boat, called the " West Newton," was put 
into the trade from Galena to St. Paul, by the Harrises of 
Galena, and run against the Nonienee. The " West New- 
ton " was a gallant little boat, and about an equal match for 
the Nomenee. During this opposition, on the 10th of May, 
1852, the Nomenee, Captain Smith, prepared for a race to 
St. Paul, and although the " West Newton " did not run, 
yet Captain Smith run on time, and made the trip to St. 
Paul and back to Galena in two days, seven hours and 
forty-nine minutes — a round trip of eight hundred miles. 
In the fall of the same year, the Harrises were permitted to 
join the Galena company, and their boat afterwards run in 
the line. 

In the spring of 1854, the " War Eagle," " Galena," and 
" Royal Arch," were added to the line, and in 1855, the 
" Golden Era," "Alhambra," " Lady Franklin," and " City 
Bell," were added. 

In June, 1856, the opening of the Galena and Chicago 
Union Railroad gave a great impetus to the business, 
and the packet company added to their line of boats the 
" Northern Bell," " Ocean Wave," " Granite State," " Greek 
Slave," and " Black Hawk." 

Several boats besides the "Nomenee" were sunk during 
this time: namely, "West Newton," in the fall of 1853, 
near Alma ; " Dr. Franklin," seven miles above Dubuque, by 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 405 

colliding with the "Galena," in June, 1854. In 1856, the 
" Galena " was burned. 

Trade fell off considerably in 1858, and subsequently, but 
in 1861 the packet company increased its number of incor- 
porators to about one hundred, and its capital to $400,000, 
and run the following boats in the upper trade : 

" War Eagle," " Alhambra," " City Bell," " Fanny Har- 
ris," "Northern Light," "Key City," "Northern Bell," 
" Golden Era," " Ocean Wave," " Flora," " Grey Eagle," 
" Milwaukee," " Itasca." 

Some of these boats were of the first class, and might 
well have been called "floating palaces." 

The " Milwaukee " cost the company $39,000 ; " Grey 
Eagle," $43,000; and the "Key City," and "Northern 
Light," each about the same. 

The "Key City" was built at Cincinnati, in 1857, was 
250 feet long, 35 feet wide, 359f| tons burthen, 51 state- 
rooms, and four high-pressure boilers, IV feet long, 38 inches 
in diameter, and have been subject to a pressure of 200 
pounds to the square inch. The " War Eagle " and " Ga- 
lena," were of a smaller class of boats, the former being but 
296^ tons burthen, with 46 state-rooms, and 3 high-pressure 
boilers, 14 feet long each. It is 219 feet long, and 29 feet 
wide, and was built at Cincinnati, in the winter of 1853-54. 

The Galena Packet Company finally reorganized in Feb- 
ruary, 1864, under the laws of the State of Iowa, with a 
cash capital of $400,000, under the name of " The North- 
western Packet Company," with general powers to run 
steamers, and do a passenger and freight business between 
Dubuque and St. Paul. The company was bound by con- 
tract with the Milwaukee and Prairie Du Chien Railroad 
Company, to carry freight and passengers for that company 
between the latter place and St. Paul. 

In the fall of 1865, the North-western Company were 
running the following steamers in the trade: "Milwau- 
kee," "Itasca," "Northern Light," "Key City," "War 



406 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Eagle ; " all first-class passenger steamers. They also run 
three light-draught boats for low water, and three additional 
steamers for freight and towing barges. 

The officers of the new company for 1865 were: John 
Lawler, President ; George A. Blanchard, Secretary and 
Treasurer; and William E. Wellington, Superintendent. 
The central office was located at Dubuque, where the two 
latter gentlemen resided. 

On the first day of October, 1858, the La Crosse and 
Milwaukee Railroad was completed, and opened through to 
the Mississippi at La Crosse, and much of the business of 
the boats passed over this road. 

In 1860, an independent, or opposition, line of steamboats 
was run from La Crosse to St. Paul, by Mr. Davidson and 
others, which the Galena Packet Company made a spirited 
but unsuccessful effort to run off; failing in this, they com- 
promised, by forming with Davidson and others, a combina- 
tion, on the 17th of August, 1861, which has since done a 
large business. 

In 1863, the La Crosse and St. Paul line ran in connec- 
tion with the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad, the fol- 
lowing boats : 

« McLellan," Captain P. S. Davidson ; " Keokuk," Cap- 
tain J. R. Hatcher ; " Northern Bell," Captain John Coch- 
ran ; " Frank Steele," Captain Martin ; " Clara Hine," 
Captain J. Newton ; " G. H. Wilson," Captain William 
Butler ; "iEolian," Captain Sencerbox. 

Running above the Falls of St. Anthony, "Anne Cutler," 
" Enterprise," and u Gray Cloud." 

Running on the Chippewa river : " John Rumsey," 
Captain Nathaniel Harris ; " Chippewa Falls," Captain L. 
Fulton. 

Running on the St. Croix : " Wenona," Captain L. 
Brown. 

Running on the Minnesota : " Pomeroy," Captain Bell ; 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 407 

" Stella Whipple," Captain Haycock ; "Albany,"' Captain 
Norris ; — in all, 16. 

These boats were all light-draught, and were seldom 
stopped by low water, although the low water of 1863 was 
extremely embarrassing. Nearly the same steamers were 
running in 1865. 

The combination of the steamboat interest proving unsatis- 
factory, the new North-western Packet company and the La 
Crosse line, generally called " Davidson's Line," on the 1st 
of May, 1866, consolidated into a new company, under the 
general laws of the State of Iowa, at Dubuque, and organ- 
ized a company which they called the " North-western 
Union Packet Company," and elected the following officers : 
"William F. Davidson, of St. Paul, president; John Lawler, 
of Prairie Du Chien, general manager; Geo. A. Blanchard, 
of Dubuque, secretary; William Rhodes, of St. Paul, 
treasurer; and William E. Wellington, of Dubuque, and 
P. S. Davidson, La Crosse, superintendents. 

The general office of the company is located at Dubuque, 
Iowa; and the company organized with a capital of 
$1,500,000, and put immediately into the trade thirty 
steamers and seventy-three barges. The officers are men 
of character and great energy, and the company will be a 
power that will be felt for good or evil. 

The following table will show the time of the opening 
and closing of navigation at St. Paul, Minnesota, the 
number of arrivals at that point per year, and the length of 
the season of navigation : v, 



408 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



Date of 0$e 



and Closing Navigation at St. Paul. 



First Boat. 



1844, April 6. . 

1845, " 6.. 

1846, March 31 

1847, April 7 . 

1848, " 7.. 

1849, " 9 ■• 

1850, " 19 . 

1851, " 4-. 

l8<J2, " 16.. 

1853, " "■ • 

1S54, " 3.. 

1855, " 17- • 

1856, " 18.. 

1857, Ma y 1 • • 

1858, March 25 

1859, April 19 
i860, March 28 
1861, AprilS.. 



River Closed. 



Nov. 23 

" 26 

Dec. 5 

Nov. 29 

Dec. 4 

" 7 

" 4 

Nov. 8 

" 18 

" 3o 

« 27 

" 20 

" 10 

" 14 

" 15 

" 27 

" 2 3 

" 26 





<w 




. > 


. 




*h 




^;m 


< 


hj 




41 


231 




48 


234 




24 


245 




47 


236 




63 


241 


2 


95 


242 




194 


229 




119 


218 




171 


216 




200 


233 




256 


223 




560 


217 




«57 


212 




1,026 


198 




1,068 


236 


62 


808 


222 


55 


775 


240 




937 


231 





240 



12,703 

18,279 



From this table, compiled from the " Statistics of Minne- 
sota," it appears that from 1844 to 1861, inclusive, the 
shortest season was in 1857, from May 1st to November 
14th, of one hundred and ninety-eight days; and that the 
longest season was in 1846, from March 31st to December 
5th, of two hundred and forty-five days' navigation ; and 
that the average tonnage of the boats, in 1858, was nearly 
two hundred and five tons. 

The steamboat business at St. Paul was divided with 
different points, as indicated by the arrivals for 1861, as 
follows : 



From Pittsburg 

" St. Louis 

" Dunleith 

" La Crosse 

" Fox lake 

" Minnesota river 

" Stillwater 



4 


arrivals 


99 


a 


236 


u 


273 


(< 


3 


" 


3i8 


Ct 


4 


n 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 409 

According to the census return for 1850, the total popu- 
lation of the United States was 23,191,876, and was divided 
as follows : * 

Pacific slope ----- 117,271 

Mississippi valley - 8,641,754 

Atlantic slope - 12,729,859 

Gulf slope ----- 1,702,992 

The full returns of the census of 1860 have not yet been 
published according to the -geographical divisions ; but if 
we take the ratio from 1840 to 1850, we shall find that the 
Mississippi valley in 1860 had a population of about 
13,000,000. 

In the compendium of the census for 1850, published by 
the United States, the States and territories are put down 
at 2,936,166 square miles, and are divided as follows : 

Pacific slope ----- 766,002 

Atlantic slope, ----- 514,416 

Northern lake and Red R. region - - 112,649 

Gulf region ----- 325,537 

Mississippi valley - 1,217,562 



Total - - - - 2,936,166 

From this statement it will be seen that over two-fifths 
of the whole territory of the United States is drained by 
the waters of the Mississippi and its tributaries ; and if we 
add to this the Gulf region, and the Lake and Red River 
region, we shall have nearly three-fifths of the entire terri- 
tory of the United States. By comparing this central 
region with Europe, we find that it exceeds all the balance 
of Europe after taking out Russia and Portugal. 

The acclivity of the surface, east, west, and north of the 
Mississippi, is so gentle, as neither to affect the navigation 
of the tributaries, nor impede the cultivation of the soil ; 
while the southern portion is not too warm, or the northern 
too cold, to effect more than to give a variety to the 
26* 



410 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

vegetable productions. Upon its varied soil may be grown 
nearly every article necessary for the comfort of man, and 
its inexhaustible grain fields have be%ome almost the 
granary of the world. 

In its mineral productions it is on quite as grand a scale. 
Gold and silver are abundant along a large part of the 
eastern slope of the Rocky mountains ; iron rises into hills 
in Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin ; lead underlies large 
districts in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri ; copper 
and zinc are abundant, and gypsum is generally dissemi- 
nated in every State and territory ; and in the south-west, 
on the head waters of the Red and Arkansas rivers, it 
occupies a region of more than 2,000 square miles. 

Salt is found in springs in most of the valleys, and as rock 
salt in Missouri, and at the bottom of the salt wells in Ohio. 

Coal exists in vast quantities in every State and territory 
except Wisconsin and Minnesota. Along the head waters 
of the Missouri and its western tributaries, nearly to the 
Gulf, it is believed to exist in greater quantities than at any 
other locality on the globe. 

Coal oil, which is now attracting so much attention, is 
found in south-eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and 
north-w r estern Virginia. The most extensive and produc- 
tive deposit now known is on the Little Kanawha, about 
thirty miles above Parkersburg. In this locality, four hundred 
barrels are said to have run out of one well in five hours. 

But the writer need not enlarge upon the natural advan- 
tages which the great Creator has congregated in this lovely 
valley of the Mississippi for the benefit of man. However, 
as numerous as they are, but few of them can be enjoyed to 
advantage unless the navigation of the Mississippi and its 
tributaries are free from the control of the enemies of the 
people who inhabit the valley. No divided authority can 
control the great interest here involved for any length of 
time. It must and will be under one government. 

The great southern statesman, Hon. John C. Calhoun, 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 411 

speaking on this subject in his report to the United States 
Senate, on the 26th of January, 1846, on the subject of the 
resolutions of the Memphis convention, remarked: "So 
urgent, indeed, is the necessity of a common power to regu- 
late its commerce, that it may be safely affirmed that it 
would require a confederation among the States on its 
borders for that purpose, as the only means of preserving 
peace, and preventing the most deadly conflicts among 
them ; destructive alike of their commerce and prosperity, 
had not the constitution divested the States of the power, 
and delegated it to the federal government." 

The free navigation of the Mississippi early attracted the 
attention of the government of the United States. By the 
ordinance of 1787, Congress declared that "the navigable 
waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and 
the carrying places between the same, shall be common 
highways and for ever free, as well to the inhabitants of the 
said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and 
those of any other State that may be admitted into the con- 
federacy, without any tax, duty, or impost therefor." 

Again, in 1788, Congress "Resolved that the free navi- 
gation of the river Mississippi is a clear and essential right 
of the United States." 

The constitution, also, virtually declares that the naviga- 
tion of this river shall be free, when it says, " Vessels bound 
to or from one State shall not be obliged to enter, clear, or 
pay duties in another." 

By a treaty with Spain of the 27th of October, 1795, 
during Washington's administration, Spain finally granted 
to the United States the free navigation of the river. 

October 1st, 1800, Spain ceded Louisiana to France, and, 
October 16th, 1802, the intendant, Morales, closed the port 
of New Orleans to our commerce. Finally, April 30th, 
1803, the United States, being aware of the difficulties 
existing if the lower portion of the Mississippi continued 
under the control of a foreign government, by a treaty at 



412 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Paris, purchased Louisiana for $15,000,000, and thereby- 
secured the undisputed navigation of the Mississippi and 
all its tributaries, from their sources to the Gulf of Mexico ; 
and Governor Clairborne, of Mississippi, and General Wil- 
kinson, of the United States army, took possession of New- 
Orleans December 20th of the same year, and upper 
Louisiana was surrendered to Major Amos Stoddard, at St. 
Louis, March 10th, 1804. • 

The Memphis convention, before alluded to, which was 
held the 12th of November, 1845, and composed of five 
hundred and eighty-three delegates, " Jiesolved, That safe 
communication between the Gulf of Mexico and the interior, 
afforded by the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio 
rivers, and their principal tributaries, is indispensable to 
the defence of the country in time of war, and essential also 
to its commerce." 

The following remarks from " De Bow's Review," on this 
subject, are also very pertinent: "The free and uninter- 
rupted navigation of these great inland waters must, of 
course, be a matter of prime interest to the country. They 
are to the populous nations on their banks, as the ocean 
itself, over which commerce, not kings, presides. No con- 
struction of State powers as contradistinguished from 
Federal, can exclude these arteries of trade from the pale 
of government regard and protection." 

To those who have their homes located in the upper Mis- 
sissippi valley, the free navigation of the Mississippi to the 
Gulf becomes of paramount importance. They think that 
no flag save that of our Union should be permitted to wave 
over 1,200 miles of this great highway between them and 
the ocean, demanding tribute of our commerce, much less 
should that tribute be paid to a fraction of the Union, inas- 
much as the free navigation was purchased with the joint 
funds of the whole nation ; and the late pressure from the 
north-west upon the great southern rebellion, has demon- 



THE MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS NAVIGATION. 



413 



strated that they do not intend to be misunderstood on this 
question.* 

Since the close of the war, the subject of the improve- 
ment of the navigation of the Mississippi and its tributaries 
has again revived, and an important convention was held at 
St. Louis, February 13th, 1867, to consider that subject. 
The committee on resolutions were the following prominent 
gentlemen : Indiana, Charles H. Mekin, A. F. Wemple ; 
Pennsylvania, R. C. Gray, Joseph Knapp ; Minnesota, E. 

D. Williams, W. D. Washburn ; Illinois, William Eggleston, 
O. C. Skinner; Tennessee, W. B. Grau, H. Hiner; Ohio, 
Theo. Cook, A. D. Geshern; Wisconsin, R. C. Libby, Major 

E. Paine ; Missouri, Judge Samuel Treat, James B. Earls ; 
Louisiana, W. Jeff. Thompson, E. B. Briggs ; Kentucky, 
R. H. Walford, B. C. Live ; Michigan, J. C. Joy, A. W. 
Copeland ; Iowa, General H. L. Reed, H. W. Starr. 

This committee reported the following, which were 
adopted by the convention : 

" Resolved, That the interests of the whole Mississippi 
valley require the immediate improvement by the national 
government of the Mississippi river from the Belize to the 
Falls of St. Anthony, including especially the bar at the 
Belize, the upper and lower rapids, and the removal of the 
obstructions above these rapids ; and also the Ohio river, 
from Cairo to Pittsburg, and especially the work at the falls 
of the Ohio ; said improvements to secure the navigation 
of said rivers free from all tolls or tribute. 

" Resolved, That the vast importance of such action as 
will secure the needed improvements at an early day of the 
following rivers is commended to the favorable and earnest 
consideration of Congress, viz. : The Missouri river, from 



* Note. — The north-western States furnished the following num- 
ber of soldiers for the Union army of the great rebellion : 

Ohio 317,133 Kansas 

Indiana 105,147 Illinois 

Wisconsin 9(i,1lSJMichigan ... 

Minnesota 25,034 1 Missouri 



, 0,097 

.25S,217 
. 90,119 
.103,773 



Iowa. 



75,860 



Total 1,186, 



414 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the mouth of Fort Benton, the Illinois river, the Red river, 
the Tennessee river to Chattanooga, the Wisconsin river to 
the Fox river, the Arkansas river to Fort Smith, and the 
Cumberland river to Nashville. 

" Resolved, That when the financial condition of the 
country may justify, Congress be requested to cause proper 
investigations to be made as to the necessity of improving 
hereafter all the other rivers of the Mississippi valley. 

" Resolved, That Congress should so legislate on the sub- 
ject of bridging the Mississippi and other navigable rivers 
of the United States as will, while recognizing the equal 
importance of railroad and river transportation, harmonize 
the interests by securing proper facilities for both." 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE GREAT LAKES, AND THEIR NAVIGATION. 

When we contemplate the magnificent proportions of the 
north-western lakes, we are struck with the grandeur which 
they exhibit to the human mind ; and we become absorbed 
in the questions whether the Creator really shaped them for 
the convenience of commerce, or whether it was a pure 
accident or freak of mother earth, when its crust was 
cooled down to a temperature fit for the habitation of man. 
Whichever way we decide the question, we are still bound 
to admire their peculiar adaptation to the wants of civiliza- 
tion, and often thank God that we are permitted to have 
them for our enjoyment. These lakes are not only distin- 
guished from those of other countries by their magnitude 
and depth, but in the purity of their waters, which is not 
exceeded by the bubbling fountain gushing fresh from the 
mountain base. 

The following table will show at a glance the physical 
character of these lakes, with their height above tide water : 



Ontario . 
Erie .... 
Huron . . 
Michigan 
Superior 









1 


& 


.c 






SO 


'O 






c 


D . 


•c 




^ a> 


,fi 1) 


a 


_- 


■s-a 


1 a 


0} . 

-a "8 


.2 


eg 

9 


eg 
9 


eg 




O 


cis 


s 


K 


ISO 


35 


500 


332 


240 


80 


S4 


565 


260 


160 


900 


574 


820 


100 


900 


578 


355 


160 


900 


627 



eg £ 
J- a; 

< b 



6,300 

9,600 

20,400 

22,000 

82.000 



416 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

These lakes are all connected with each other by rivers, 
and with the ocean by the St. Lawrence river; and th--» 
obstruction to navigation by the Niagara Falls, having been 
surmounted by the Welland canal, and St. Mary's Falls by 
Sault St. Mary canal, vessels not exceeding 130 feet keel, 26 
beam, and 10 feet draught, can now load at any of the lake 
ports, and pass down to the ocean without transhipment of 
freight. These lakes are estimated to drain a region of 
country containing an area of 335,515 square miles. 

In tracing the effects of civilization on the commerce of 
the north-west, the historian ought to be possessed of the 
data of the commerce which had been carried on by the 
barbarian nations, long before they were visited by the 
white race; but this data can not be reached with any 
degree of certainty at the present day, and can only be 
approximated from the knowledge we may gain of their 
manners and customs. We know that the ancient Mound- 
Builders, on the Ohio river, had sea-shells which must have 
come from the ocean, and copper and silver, which probably 
came from Lake Superior; and while these metals might 
have been found in the drift deposits of Illinois and Wis- 
consin, there is no conceivable way that the other articles 
could have been obtained short of the ocean or Gulf of 
Mexico. The evidence is also regarded as conclusive, that 
the ancient Mound-Builders were an agricultural people, and 
by the ordinary laws of production and human wants, it is 
reasonable to suppose that crops might have failed by 
drouth and frosts in one locality, and been supplied by 
another ; and so investigating from cause to effect, we come 
to the conclusion that the Mound-Builders carried on a 
considerable commerce throughout all the north-west. Their 
successors, being a far more warlike people, paid little 
attention to agriculture, and therefore had no great neces- 
sity for commerce, except what might gratify their fancy 
or superstition. The modern Indians, however, were known 



THE GREAT LAKES, AND THEIR NAVIGATION. 417 

to have been great travelers, and with their bark canoes 
fearlessly undertook a journey of one thousand miles. 

When Sieur Champlain visited Lake Huron in 1615, he 
opened a commerce with the north-western tribes, and, 
except when blockaded by the Iroquois, these north-western 
tribes annually visited Quebec and the " Three Rivers," 
with large fleets of canoes loaded with furs and skins, which 
they exchanged for guns, powder, lead, blankets, and trin- 
kets. Thus we find incidentally mentioned in the Jesuit 
Relations, that in 1656, three hundred Indians arrived in 
bark canoes; 1660, a fleet of sixty canoes; 1663, thirty-five 
canoes of Outaouaks ; 1665, there " arrived at Three Rivers 
a hundred canoes of Outaouaks, and some other savages of 
our allies, who came from the region of Lake Superior, 
about four or five hundred leagues from here, to carry on 
their ordinary commerce, and to supply themselves with 
what they need, giving us in exchange their beaver skins, 
which are very abundant with them." 

The beaver trade in Canada was granted by the king in 
1628 to a company which failed to protect itself and the 
country from the Indians, and consequently surrendered 
their monopoly to the people in 1664, for one thousand 
beaver annually, as " Seigniorage," and then further surren- 
dered their right to one thousand beaver to the king ; and 
the king then granted the trade to the West India Company, 
with power to nominate all officers of the colony. This 
company demanded one-fourth of the beavers, and the tenth 
of the moose skins of all persons engaged in the fur trade, 
which demand was declared to be legal by the king in 1666 ; 
and in 1676, the king expressly prohibited all persons 
" invested with ecclesiastical or secular dignity " to engage 
in it. 

The value of the fur trade can not easily be ascertained, 

but M. Talon wrote the King of France, in 1670, that the 

English of New York, Albany, and Boston, obtained over 

twelve thousand livres worth of beaver annually, " trapped 

27 



418 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

by the Iroquois in countries subject to the king." The 
English obtained large quantities, annually, through the 
Iroquois, who carried on their trade with the western 
Indians through the valley of the Ohio to the Mississippi. 

Although the French of Canada had greatly the advan- 
tage in this trade with the Indians, yet, as the English paid 
fifty per cent, more for the furs, the French were troubled 
with a contraband trade, constantly carried on with the 
French and English traders, by which the authorities of 
Canada were cheated out of their one-fourth of the furs. 
For instance, in 1689, the prices were stated as follows: 



TVie Indian pays for 


At Albany, At Montreal, 


Eight pounds of powder 


one beaver 


four. 


A gun - 


two beavers 


five. 


Forty pounds of lead 


one beaver 


three. 


A blanket of red cloth 


one beaver 


two. 


A white blanket - 


one beaver 


two. 


Four shirts - 


one beaver 


two. 


Six pair of stockings 


one beaver 


two. 


Six quarts rum - 


one beaver - 




One pint to one quart brandy - 


- 


one. 



In 1703, the fur trade in Canada was estimated, in a 
French document, as being worth two million livres an- 
nually. 

The English made an attempt to establish trading-posts 
at Detroit and Mackinaw in 1686, and the following year, 
Major Mc Gregory and his party of sixty English and some 
Indians, with thirty-two canoes and Indian goods, on their 
way to Detroit, were plundered by the French on Lake 
Erie, and the prisoners sent to Montreal. From this time, 
the French took possession, and established trading-posts 
through the whole north-west, which they held until the 
surrender of Canada in 1760. When the English came in 
possession of Canada, they took possession of these trading- 
posts, and held them until 1796, when they were finally 
surrendered to the United States. 



THE GREAT LAKES, AND THEIE NAVIGATION. 421 

At the close of the war of the revolution in 1783, several 
of the merchants of Montreal formed a partnership for the 
fur trade, and in 1787 united with another company, and 
formed the " North-west Company." The Mackinaw 
Company was subsequently formed, with head-quarters at 
Mackinaw. In 1809, John Jacob Astor organized himself 
into the "American Fur Company," and in 1811, with some 
others, bought out the Mackinaw Company, and organized 
another, called the " South-west Company." The war of 
1812 suspended its operations, and at the close of the war it 
was effectually dissolved by an act of Congress, prohibiting 
British fur traders from prosecuting their business in the 
United States. Mr. Astor then purchased the property of 
the South-west Company, and reorganized the "American 
Fur Company," which monopolized the fur trade in the 
north-west for many years subsequently. 

For this company, Mackinaw was made the general depot 
for Indian goods in the north-west, from which place goods 
were transported to central points between Mackinaw and 
the Rocky mountains. The country west of the Rocky 
mountains was supplied from Astoria, on the Columbia 
river. Prairie Du Chien had a sub-depot, and supplied the 
traders along the Mississippi river, and was superintended 
by Mr. Lockwood for several years, until 1827, when it was 
put in charge of Colonel H. L. Dousman. The manner of 
conducting the trade was to fit out a clerk as trader, with 
from $1,000 to $1,500 worth of goods, in the fall of the year. 
The clerk was provided with canoes, and two or three voy- 
ageurs, or boatmen. The goods were carefully loaded in 
the boats, when the clerk and boatmen paddled the canoes 
along the water-courses, to the location of some band or 
tribe of Indians where it was designed to spend the winter 
to trade. Here a log cabin was erected, which constituted 
the kitchen, bed-room and store. Where trade was carried 
on by the same persons for several winters at the same 



422 UPPEK MISSISSIPPI. 

point, additions were generally made to the cabin of a 
kitchen and bed-rooms. 

Here, far from civilization or moral restraint, the clerk and 
his voyageurs spent the winter, in trading with the Indians, 
hunting, and drinking more or less whisky. The clerk 
generally secured some influential Indian's daughter as his 
mistress, and took her into his cabin, while the voyageurs 
contented themselves with running loose among the wig- 
wams. 

After the winter had passed, the ice in the streams having 
disappeared, and the fur of newly-killed beaver became 
worthless, the clerk and his voyageurs loaded up their canoes 
with their furs and skins, and returned to their employers. 
Here the summer was generally spent in drinking, dancing, 
and parties made by the congregated traders from different 
points, until the time arrived for a new expedition. Thus 
years would pass, and when clerks and voyageurs became 
too infirm to continue their regular business, they settled 
down upon a small piece of land at these central points, 
"with a squaw for a wife, and there ended their days. On 
the death of the husband, if the wife survived, she often 
returned to her tribe with the children, and these children 
would grow up and often become the most savage of the tribe. 

White blood never improves the Indian, morally, men- 
tally, or physically, but if it changes him at all, it adds to 
his natural barbarity. Indeed, the contact of the whites 
with the Indians, from the " landing of the pilgrims " to the 
present day, has been deleterious to the latter race, except 
the very limited efforts at times of benevolent individuals to 
Christianize them. We have almost uniformly cheated them 
in trade, crazed them with brandy, rum, and whisky, de- 
bauched their daughters, and robbed them of their lands. 
Who can blame them if they are distrustful of our Christi- 
anity, and cling to the religion of their fathers, as the only 
thing left to them which has not been polluted by the 
whites ? 



THE GREAT XAKES, AND THEIR NAVIGATION. 423 

The commerce with the Indian tribes was carried on at 
first in bark canoes, but as business and freight increased, 
the French introduced the batteau, a long, light boat, which 
proved very effectual in navigating the rivers. 

In 1679, Sieur De La Salle, the explorer of the lower 
Mississippi, impatient of the custom of transporting freight 
to the upper lakes in canoes and batteaux, built, above 
Niagara Falls, the " Griffin," a small sail vessel, on which 
he embarked, with his goods and about thirty men, for 
Mackinaw, August 7, 1679, arriving at the latter place on 
the 27th of the same month. Here he remained until Sep- 
tember 2nd, when he weighed anchor and sailed forty 
leagues, to the mouth of Green Bay, where he and most of 
the party took the freight into canoes, to perform the bal- 
ance of the journey ; the u Griffin " was sent back to 
Niagara, but was never heard of after it passed beyond 
Mackinaw. The published account does not name the 
locality at which the " Griffin " was sent back, but the Rev. 
Father St. Cosme, who passed over the route in 1699, 
remarked that forty leagues from Mackinaw, they " cabined 
in an isle of the detour, (so called) because there the lake 
begins to turn southerly," and then crossed Green Bay 
" from ile to ile," leaving the bay of Noquet's " on the right." 

The point between Lake Michigan and Noquet bay (Bay 
De Nock), is still called " Point Detour," and the " Griffin " 
probably stopped at Sumner island, a trifle south of the 
point. Many modern writers do not speak of the " Griffin " 
passing south-west of Mackinaw. The writer does not find 
any mention of the tonnage of the a Griffin," but Rev. 
Father Membre, who sailed in it, called it a " barque," and 
La Salle, in 1684, in a memorial to the king, speaking of 
his losses by shipwreck in 1678 and 1679, said that "no 
time had been lost in building, at Fort Frontenac, two new 
vessels since, one of thirty-five to forty, and the other of 
twenty-five tons," and that those two cost " nine thousand 
livres." 






424 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

La Salle evidently introduced sail vessels on Lake Ontario, 
as Father Membre' says that La Salle, who had previously 
built Fort Frontenac, " sent oft* his troops in a brigantine 
for Niagara, with Father Louis Hennepin, on the 18th of 
November," 167 8, and that La Salle "made frequent voya- 
ges from Fort Frontenac to Niagara, during the winter, on 
the ice, and in the spring, with vessels loaded with provi- 
sions," and that " the pilot who directed one of his well- 
loaded barques, lost it on Lake Frontenac (Ontario). These 
statements establish the point that La Salle owned these 
vessels, and that two were lost in 1679, one on Lake 
Ontario, and the " Griffin " between Mackinaw and Niagara. 
These vessels on Lake Ontario were probably built between 
the spring of 1676, when La Salle took possession of Fort 
Frontenac to rebuild it, and 1677, when he sailed for France 
to obtain a patent to explore the Mississippi ; or it is possi- 
ble, though not probable, that they were built during his 
absence to France. 

The advent of the enterprising La Salle upon the lakes, 
with a supposed monopoly of the fur trade, raised up against 
him the opposition of the whole trading interests, and every 
appliance possible was arranged to circumvent his opera- 
tions and defeat his plans ; and as La Salle had first intro- 
duced sail vessels on the lakes, this fact was resorted to by 
the traders to arouse the superstitions of the savages, and 
array them against him. Hence, Father Membre, on this 
subject, writes that " an enterprise which should have been 
sustained by all well-meaning persons, for the glory of God 
and the service of the king, had produced precisely the 
opposite feelings and effects, which had been already com- 
municated to the Hurons, the Outaoiiats of the island, and 
the neighboring nations, to make them ill-affected." Thus, 
through the malice of traders against La Salle, the proud 
little " barques" were driven from the boisterous lakes, 
never to reappear above Niagara falls while the French 
held possession of the country, and never to reappear on 



THE GREAT LAKES, AND THEIR NAVIGATION. 425 

Lake Ontario until about the commencement of the great 
war of 1755, when all superstitions sank into insignificance, 
in view of the portentous struggle for the sovereignty of 
all Canada. 

The next mention we have of sail vessels is of two at a 
new French mission and fort at the present site of Ogdens- 
burg, New York, " loaded with hay and the stockades of 
the fort," which were burned by a party of Mohawks, 
October 26th, 1749. 

Again, in July, 1755, the French Governor of Canada 
notices the fact that the English at Oswego were building 
some sloops carrying ten guns ; and, the last of the same 
month, that the English " have actually two, and perhaps 
three, flat-bottomed sloops with sweeps, armed for war, 
cruising on Lake Ontario." The French also prepared four 
small armed vessels, to protect their batteaux when carrying 
supplies to Niagara. Finally, on the 11th August, 1756, 
the French, under Montcalm, laid siege to Oswego, and 
captured it the 14th of the same month; with the English 
fleet, then consisting of seven vessels of war, one of eighteen 
guns, one of fourteen guns, one of ten, one of eight, three 
mounted with swivels, and two hundred barges or batteaux. 
These vessels, with the most of those belonging to the 
French, were recaptured by the colonial troops under 
Colonel Bradstreet, when they took Fort Frontenac, now 
called Kingston, August 27th, 1758. All but two of the 
vessels were burned, probably as worthless, and those two 
were loaded with the trophies of the victory, and taken 
back to Oswego. This virtually terminated the French 
navy on the lakes. 

The surrender of Canada in 1760 to Great Britain, threw 
into the hands of the British the then important fur trade 
of the north-west, and that government early took possession 
of the different military posts, and prepared to supervise 
the Indian tribes, then still in a state of semi-hostility. To 
this end, they constructed two armed schooners, and put 
27* 



426 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

them on Lake Erie, probably in the fall of 1762; but the 
first notice of them to be found is that they were lying 
before the fort at Detroit, May 8th, 1763, at the commence- 
ment of the siege of that fort by Pontiac. One of these, 
named the " Gladwin," made a trip to Fort Erie, and 
returned with supplies and a reinforcement for the fort, in 
June, which saved the fort from being surrendered to the 
Indians. The " Gladwin" made several trips during the 
season to Fort Erie. On the 13th of August, 1763, she left 
Detroit with her consort, called the " Beaver," but the lat- 
ter was wrecked on her return towards Detroit, on the 28th 
of the same month, at Catfish creek, fourteen miles from 
Buffalo. The " Gladwin" only saved from the wreck one 
hundred and eighty-five barrels of provisions, which she 
took to Detroit. About this time additional vessels were 
put on the lake ; and the arrivals at Detroit for 1764 showed 
the names of the " Gladwin," " Victory," " Boston," and 
" Royal Charlotte." This year the " Gladwin" made one 
trip to Mackinaw.* 

From this time up to the commencement of the war of 
1812, the commerce of the lakes was mainly confined to the 
interests of the fur trade, and the sail vessels made a few 
trips annually to Mackinaw and Sault St. Mary. 

Previous to 1800, the North-western Fur Company placed 
a schooner on Lake Superior, to run from Sault St. Mary to 
La Point, near the head of the lake. The first American 
vessel, called the " Washington," was launched at Erie, 
Pennsylvania, in 1797, after the surrender of the north- 
western posts to the United States by Great Britain. In 
1812 the whole number of vessels on the upper lakes above 
Niagara falls was only twelve, belonging to both govern- 
ments. To these were added, in 1813, the armed squadrons 
of the two nations, which finally became the property of the 
United States, by " Perry's victory," September 10th, 1813. 

The discovery of steam navigation, which has worked a 
revolution, particularly on the great rivers of the world, was 



THE GREAT LAKES, AND THEIR NAVIGATION. 427 

early transferred from the Atlantic to the lakes ; and in 1818 
was first heard the snorting " Walk-in-the-Water," the first 
steamer on Lake Erie. 

The following table, compiled and published by the editor 
of the "Buffalo Commercial Advertiser" in 1843, wiU show 
the progress of steam navigation for the first twenty-five 
years, on the lakes above Niagara falls : 



List of Steamers on the Upper Lakes to 1843. 



Walk-in-the-Water 

Superior 

Chippewa 

H. Clay 

Pioneer 

Niagara 

"William Penn 

Enterprise 

Peacock 

Newburyport 

Thompson 

Ohio 

Adelaide 

Gratiot 

Pennsylvania 

New York 

Brady 

Uncle Sam 

Perseverance 

Washington (first) . 

Michigan 

Webster 

Detroit 

Lady of the Lake.. 

Marcy .■ 

North America 

Newberry 

Delaware, 

Victory 

Porter 

Jefferson 

Perry 

Monroe 

Mazeppa 

Sandusky 

Minnessetuk 

Jackson 

J. Downing 

L. Western 

Fulton 

Columbus 

Townsend 

United States 

Chicago 

Taylor . . . 

Thames 

Clinton 



Tons. 



840 
300 
1O0 
34S 
2-0 
180 
•2;:, 
250 
120 
75 
242 
187 
230 
GO 
395 
325 
100 
280 
~5Tf 
609 
472 
35S 
240 
26 
151 
362 
170 
170 
77 
342 
428 
352 
341 
130 
377 
250 
50 
80 
60 
368 
391 
312 
366 
186 
95 
160 
413 



Class. 



Low 



High 
Low 

High 



Low 
High 
Low 
High 



Low 
High 
Low 



High 

Low 
High 



Low 

High 

Low 
High 



Low 
High 



Where built. 



Black Rock. 
Buffalo 



Black Rock. 



Erie 

Cleveland 

Barcelona 

Erie 

Huron 

I. Sandusky . 
Chippewa 
Charleston . . . 

Erie 

Black Rock.. 

Detroit 

Gross Isle — 

Erie 

Huron 

Detroit 

Black Rock.. 

Toledo 

Mt. Clemens 
Black Rock . . 
Conneaut . . . 

Palmer 

Huron 

Buffalo 

Black Rock.. 

Erie 

Perrysburgh 

Monroe 

Buffalo 

Sandusky . . . 
Goderich. . . . 
Mt. Clemens 
Sandusky . . . 
Chatham . . . 
Cleveland . . 

Hui-on 

Buffalo 

Huron 

St. Josephs. . 
Silver Creek. 
Chatham. . .. 
Huron 



When 

built. 

1818 
1822 
1-24 
1S25 

1826 



1829 
1830 



1832 



1833 



1S34 



1835 



428 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 
List of Steamers — continued. 



Name. 


Tons. 


Class. 


Where built. 


When 
built 




300 

149 

102 

37 

250 

80 

18 

116 

755 

472 

680 

580 

700 

497 

283 

457 

443 

416 

401 

390 

101 

128 

80 

53 

780 

613 

412 

385 

363 

259 

148 

75 

250 

380 

162 

52 

51 

45 

56 

240 

161 

150 

180 

149 

63 

612 

326 

98 

400 

534 

231 

600 

64 


Low 
High 

Low 
High 

Low 

High 
Low 
High 

Low 

High 
Low 
High 
Low 
High 
Low 
High 

Low 
High 

(< 
Low 

High 
Low 
High 


Buffalo 


(< 


L. Erie 




u 






«< 






ii 


St. Clair 




i. 




Toledo 


(i 






it 






<< 






1831 










Erie 


<< 






<< 






ii 


Erie 


Erie 


(i 






it 


— IT Hill 




<« 






<< 




Black Rock. .. 


ii 






<( 






<« 






<< 






<« 






ii 






ii 






1S3S 


Buffalo 


Buffalo . 








(i 






<< 






<< 


Fairport 




i< 


Grand Island 


if 




1 1 


J. Allen 




ti 






it 


Dole 




1 1 






it 




Perrysburgh 

Grand Haven 

St. Joseph 


<t 




ti 




tt 


Scott 




183S 




Buffalo 








<t 


Kent 




ti 






ii 






tt 






1840 










Black Rock 


<c 






it 




Toledo 


1841 






1842 


Nile 




1843 




Black Rock . 











Besides the above list, there are a few 
which nothing is known other than their 
these are the " Pantanguishane," " Cynthia 



small boats of 
names. Among 
""Pontiac,"and 



" Phenomenon," making with those above given an aggre- 



THE GREAT LAKES, AND THEIR NAVIGATION. 429 

gate of 27,000 tons, at a total cost of $3,510,000, — one 
hundred and thirty dollars a ton being what we deem true 
data for building and fitting out this description of vessels. 

The number of boats yet remaining of the whole once in 
commission on Lake Erie and the other upper lakes is about 
sixty, with an aggregate of 17,000 tons. Of these, some 
thirty-five only are used when the consolidation is in 
existence. 

Of the whole number of boats put in commission during 
the above period, only ten were built and owned in Canada. 

The first steamer on Lake Michigan was the Henry Clay, 
which visited Green Bay with a pleasure party in August, 
1827. The first steamer visited Chicago in 1832, and 
carried there General Scott and troops for the " Black Hawk 
war," and with them the cholera. 

In 1843 a new era in steam navigation was established, 
by the introduction of the " propeller," by Messrs. Hollisters, 
of Buffalo. During that season they launched one at 
Buffalo, one at Cleveland, one at Perry sburg, and one at 
Chicago. The first was called the " Hercules," and was 
one hundred and thirty-five feet long, twenty-five feet beam, 
eight feet hold, and two hundred and seventy-five tons. 
The engine was one of the Ericsson patent, of fifty horse- 
power, filled only about six feet square, and weighed only 
fifteen tons. This left almost the entire hull for storage. 
It cost about $20,000, and was rigged with sails as well as 
engine. This class of steamers became popular in lake 
navigation, and was afterwards greatly multiplied. 

In 1825, the whole licensed tonnage of all the lakes above 
the Falls of Niagara consisted of three steamers of seven 
hundred and seventy-two tons, and fifty-four sailing craft 
of 1,677 tons, being an aggregate of only 2,449 tons. 

From 1825 to 1851 the aggregate tonnage was as follows: 
1830, 16,300; 1835, 30,602; 1841, 55,181; 1846, 90,000; 
1851, 153,426. 



430 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



The Chicago Board of Trade, in 1862, made up the fol- 
lowing table, showing the number, class, tonnage, and valua- 
tion of vessels, American and Canadian, engaged in the 
commerce of the lakes from 1858 to 1862: 



Class and Tonnage of Vessels. 





American. 


Canadian. 


1858. 


No. 


Tonnage 


Valuation. 


No. 


Tonnage 


Valuation. 




72 
113 

69 
129 

830 


48,031 
56,994 
6,366 
42,592 
177,170 




67 
14 
5 
37 
212 


24,784 
4,197 
415 
10,793 
32,959 














Barques and brigs 


















1,213 

75 
190 

44 

76 

831 


331,153 

47,333 
57,210 
17,929 
21,505 
172,526 


335 

77 
27 
23 
16 
217 

360 

64 
16 

22 

22 

14 

229 


73,143 

25,939 

7,289 
7,832 
3,S15 
31,792 




I860. 


$2,439,840 

3,250,390 

584,540 j 

484,2501 

5,233,035 


$1,499,680 




407,290 




246,480 




94,380 




898,560 






Total 


1,216 

66 

122 

132 

60 

75 

908 

1,363 


316,503 

43,6S3 
52,932 
17,280 
26,555 
22,124 
199,423 

361,997 


$11,992,105 

$1,403,800 

2,344,300 

922,2.i0 

786,800 

466,700 

5,439,800 

$11,364,100 


76,717 

28,104 
5,154 

8,432 

7,871 

4,223 

35,062 


$3,146,390 


1862. 
Steamers 


$1,020,200 
181,000 




202,300 


Barques 


224,500 
107,000 




872,500 






Total 


367 


88,896 


$2,607,500 







The following are the different kinds of vessels built 
during the year ending June 30th, 1864, with their tonnage 
and place of construction — American : 



THE GREAT LAKES, AND THEIR NAVIGATION. 



431 





"8 ■ 


■- 




te 








a <u 

e« -3 


a 


« 


O 


to 


bo 








£•_ 


S 








03 


03 


ro 3 


3 

03 




H 


a 






. 












Oswego - 




5 


78 


I 


84 


12,024 


Genesee 




1 






I 


20 


Niagara - 






I 




1 


x 5o 


Buffalo Creek 




2 


23 


26 


«»I 


4>757 


Cape Vincent 




3 






3 


1,023 


Ohio — 














Sandusky 




4 


2 


6 


12 


1,814 


Cuyahoga - 


I 


6 


9 


11 


27 


7.351 


Toledo - 




1 






1 


81 


Michigan — 














Detroit - 


4 


7 


H 


9 


34 


6,669 


Mackinaw 


1 


* 4 






5 


1,446 


Wisconsin — 














Milwaukee - 




9 




1 


10 


2,346 


Illinois — 














Chicago - 




1 


9 1 


4 


96 


11,468 


Total 


6 


43 


218 


58 


325 


49,149 


Total for 1863 - 


16 


5« 


329 


7i 


475 


68,337 



The miscellaneous points between the east and west, to 
which this large fleet of vessels ran, may be gathered as an 
approximation from the Report of the Milwaukee Chamber 
of Commerce for 1863, on the lines of propellers running 
from that city. The following were the several lines for 
1863: 

1. The People's Line and Western Transportation Com- 
pany : Twelve propellers to Buffalo, Erie railroad and Erie 
canal. 

2. The New York Central Line : Ten propellers to Buf- 
falo, New York Central railroad and Erie canal. 

3. The Grand Trunk Line : Eight propellers to Sarnia, 
Canada, Grand Trunk railroad. 

4. Evans' Line : Seven propellers to Buffalo, New York 
Central and Erie canal. 

5. Northern Transportation Citizens' Line : Eight pro- 
pellers to Oswego and New York canals. 



432 



UPPEE MISSISSIPPI. 



6. Great Western Railway Line : Seven propellers to 
Sarnia, Canada, Great Western railroad. 

7. Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad Line : Two steam- 
ships to Grand Haven, Michigan. 

8. Montreal Propeller Line : Five propellers weekly, to 
Montreal, Canada. 

These lines of propellers were mostly an addition to the 
shipping of Milwaukee for 1863, as is indicated by the fol- 
lowing table : 

Shipping of Milwaukee, 1862 and 1863. 





1862. 


1863. 




No. 


Tonnage. 


No. 


Tonnage. 


Steamers -' 
Propellers - 
Barques - 

Brigs .... 
Schooners - 


7 

8 

8 

107 


2,546 

3,487 

2,481 

I9'330 


8 

69 

70 

20 

405 


5,353 
38,541 
28,883 

6,225 
81,769 


Total - 


130 


27,844 


572 


160,771 



This addition to the shipping of Milwaukee, was made 
necessary mainly by the large surplus of grain raised in 
north-western Wisconsin, northern Iowa, and Minnesota, 
nearly all of which was sent to the Milwaukee market, by 
which that city was made to exceed Chicago in the amount 
of wheat sent to the eastern market. Another fact has 
contributed in a measure to this result : namely, the fact 
that the spring wheat of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and north- 
ern Iowa, is a superior article to that raised farther south, 
and is more sought after for flouring by eastern mill-owners. 



CHAPTER XX. 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, AND COMMERCE. 

Previous to our revolutionary war, the subject of commerce 
with the North-west attracted the attention of General Wash- 
ington, of Virginia, and he submitted a scheme to the House 
of Burgesses, of that State, for the construction of a canal 
to the head waters of the Ohio river, for which he received 
a vote of thanks from that body. The scheme, however, 
was thought to be chimerical by some, and premature by 
others, and was not commenced by the State. 

New York had for nearly two centuries struggled with 
Canada in the competition for the fur trade of the North- 
west, but witnessed with disappointment that the most of 
that trade had continued to follow the water courses to 
Montreal and Quebec ; hence they early planned schemes for 
connecting the Hudson river with Lake Erie by water com- 
munication. Finally, in 1816, Governor Clinton, of New 
York, recommended to the legislature of that State the 
building of a canal from Albany to Buffalo. That year a 
preliminary survey was made of the route, and, July 4th, 
1817, the work was formally commenced, and prosecuted 
with energy from year to year until its completion, May 
26th, 1825. 

The progress of the work w r as watched with great solici- 
tude by statesmen of other States, and its triumphant 
success was the signal for the commencement of other 
similar improvements. 
28 



434 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

The State of Pennsylvania formally inaugurated her 
works July 4th, 1826, which were completed to Pittsburgh in 
March, 1834. These were made up of the Columbia railroad, 
from Philadelphia to Columbia, 82 miles ; the eastern and 
Juniata division of the Pennsylvania canal, from Columbia 
to Hollidaysburg, at the base of the Alleghany mountains, 
172 miles; the Portage railroad, from Hollidaysburg to 
Johnston, 36 miles, passing over the mountain ; and the 
western division of the Pennsylvania canal, from Johnstown 
to Pittsburgh, 104 miles; — making the total distance, from 
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, 394 miles. 

Previous to the completion of the New York canal, the 
people of Maryland had monopolized the eastern travel to 
the Ohio river, by the shortness of the route from the 
Chesapeake bay ; but, on the completion of the New York 
canal, they saw the most of this travel deflected to the New 
York route ; hence we find Maryland early competing for 
the prize of the commerce of the Ohio valley. Receiving 
assistance from the cities of Washington, Georgetown, and 
Alexandria, and from the United States government, Mary- 
land chartered the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, extending 
from Alexandria up the Potomac river. This work was 
commenced under favorable auspices in 1828, but was only 
completed to Cumberland, a distance of 191 miles, in 1851. 

The State of Ohio was earlier in the field with her canals 
than either Pennsylvania or Maryland; and in 1825 that 
State commenced the Ohio canal, which extended from 
Portsmouth, on the Ohio river, to Cleveland, on Lake Erie, 
a distance of 307 miles. The Miami canal was also com- 
menced in 1825, and extended from Cincinnati to Man- 
hattan, on Lake Erie, near Toledo, a distance of 270 miles. 
Both of these canals were completed in 1832. 

The following is a list of the Ohio canals, with their 
several lengths: 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 435 

Ohio canal and branches - 340 miles. 

Walhonding canal - - - - - 25 " 



Miami canal and branches 



315 



Hocking Valley canal - - - • 56 " 

Muskingham improvement - 91 " 

Sandy and Beaver canal - - - - 76 " 

Mahoning canal ----- 77 " 

Total length of all, - - - 980 miles. 

These works cost over $19,000,000, and have contributed 
greatly to the prosperity of the State and the commerce of 
the lakes. 

In the financial expansion of 1836, the legislature of the 
State of Indiana planned an extensive system of works for 
internal improvements, and the Wabash and Erie canal was 
constructed from the State line of Ohio up the Maumee 
river and down the Wabash to Lafayette ; but the crisis of 
1837-8 caused the State to suspend operations, and the 
canal passed into the hands of the bondholders, by whom it 
was subsequently completed to Evansville, on the Ohio 
river. It extends 379 miles through the State of Indiana, 
and is of the total length, to Lake Erie, of 467 miles. 
Indiana has also the White Water canal, extending from 
Lawrenceville, on the Ohio river, to Hagerstown, a distance 
of 75 miles. 

The State of Michigan also, in 1836, planned extension 
lines of canals, but the bankruptcy of 1838 suspended opera- 
tions before they were scarcely commenced. The St. 
Mary's ship canal, however, several years after, received a 
grant of land from the United States, and was completed 
May 19th, 1855. It is cut through solid rock, ten feet 
deep, one hundred feet wide, and surmounts the falls, which 
were twenty-two feet perpendicular height. 

The State of Illinois followed nearly in the path of Indiana. 
It commenced the Illinois and Michigan canal in 1836, 
suspended operations in 1838, and turned the work over to 



436 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

the bondholders, who completed the canal from Chicago to 
Peru in 1848, a distance of 100 miles. 

In June, 1838, the territory of Wisconsin obtained a 
grant of land from the United States, to aid in the con- 
struction of the Milwaukee and Rock River canal, and the 
work was commenced; but subsequently the work was 
abandoned, and most of the proceeds of the sales of the 
grant reverted to the United States, and was deducted from 
the five per cent, fund due the new State. 

Congress made another grant of land to the territory of 
Wisconsin, August 8th, 1846, " to aid in the improvement 
of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and to connect the same 
by a canal." This grant was accepted by Wisconsin, by 
an act of the legislature of the State, approved June 29th, 
1848, and the work was soon after commenced, and is still 
(1867) in progress. 

No other north-western State has made any serious attempt 
to construct canals. 

The construction of railroads began to attract the atten- 
tion of the people of the North-west in 1836, and that year 
the State of Ohio commenced the Lake Erie and Kalamazoo 
railroad, which was finished in 1845, thirty-three miles. 
The Mansfield and Sandusky was also commenced in 1836, 
and completed in 1847 ; the Mud River and Lake Erie was 
commenced in 1836, and completed in 1846, one hundred 
and thirty-four miles ; and the little Miami was commenced 
in 1837, and finished in 1846, eighty-four miles. 

The States of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan also inaug- 
urated a system of railroads in 1836, but little progress was 
made until long after the financial crisis of 1837-8 had 
passed. In fact, the construction of railroads in the North- 
west progressed very slowly until after 1850. 

The building of railroads received a great impetus from 
the government of the United States. As one of the paci- 
fying measures of the government in the great anti-slavery 
excitement of 1850, Congress passed a law, the 20th of 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 437 

September of that year, (the same date as the law suppress- 
ing the slave trade in the District of Columbia,) providing 
" that the right of way through the public lands be, and the 
same is hereby granted to the State of Illinois, for the con- 
struction of a railroad from the southern terminus of the 
Illinois and Michigan canal [Peru] to a point at or near the 
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with a branch 
of the same to Chicago, on Lake Michigan, and another via 
the town of Galena, in said State, to Dubuque, in the State 
of Iowa, with the right also to take necessary materials of 
earth, stones, timber, etc., for the construction thereof: 
Provided, That the right of way shall not exceed one 
hundred feet on each side of the length thereof," etc. By 
the second section of the same act, it was further provided, 
" That there be, and is hereby, granted to the State of 
Illinois, for the purpose of aiding in making the railroad 
and branches aforesaid, every alternate section of land 
designated by even numbers, for six sections in width on 
each side of said road and branches," etc. ; and if any of 
the even numbers of sections within six miles had then been 
sold, or preempted, an equivalent number might be selected 
within fifteen miles of the road. 

Section four provided that the State might sell the 
lands, and that " the said road and branches shall be and 
remain a public highway, for the use of the government of 
the United States, free from toll or other charges upon the 
transportation of any property or troops of the United 
States. By the fifth section the grant was to be forfeited 
unless the road was completed in ten years ; and by the 
sixth section the mails were to be carried on the road at 
such price as should be fixed by law. 

By the seventh section of the same act a grant with like 
provisions was made to the States of Mississippi and Ala- 
bama, for the extension of the road from the mouth of the 
Ohio river to Mobile. 

The leading spirit in Congress who urged and procured 



438 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

this magnificent grant of land, and thus initiated the system 
of granting lands for railroads, was the late Senator Douglas, 
of Illinois, a leading, champion in north-western civilization. 




Hon. S. A. Douglas, late U. S. Senator for Illinois. 



The principal grants of land by the United States after- 
wards made for railroads to other north-western States, 
were as follows: To Missouri, June 10th, 1852, (1,) from 
Hannibal to St. Joseph; and, (2,) from St. Louis to the 
west line of the State, as might be determined by the State 
legislature. To Missouri and Arkansas, February 9th, 1853, 
" from a point on the Mississippi river, opposite the mouth 
of the Ohio, via Little Rock, to Texas boundary line, near 
Fulton in Arkansas, with branches from Little Rock in 
Arkansas, to the Mississippi river, and to Fort Smith, in 
said State." 






CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 439 

To the State of Iowa, May 15th, 1856, (l,) "from Burling- 
ton, on the Mississippi river, to a point on the Missouri 
river near the mouth of the Platte river ; (2,) from the city 
of Davenport, via Iowa City and Fort Des Moines, to 
Council Bluffs ; (3,) from Lyons City north-westerly to a 
point of intersection with the main line of the Iowa Central 
Air-Line railroad near Maquoketa, thence on said main 
line, running as near as practicable to the forty-second 
parallel, across the said State to the Missouri river; (4,) 
from the City of Dubuque to a point on the Missouri river 
near Sioux City, with a branch from the mouth of the Tete 
Des Morts to the nearest point on said road." 

To the State of Michigan, June 3rd, 1856, (1,) "from 
Little Bay de Noquet to Marquette, and thence to Ontona- 
gon, and from the two last-named places to the Wisconsin 
State line ; and, (2,) also, from Amboy, by Hillsdale and 
Lansing, and from Grand Rapids, to some point on or near 
Traverse bay ; also, (3,) from Grand Haven and Pere Mar- 
quette to Flint, and thence to Port Huron." 

By the act of March 3rd, 1865, a further grant was made, 
" for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad 
from Marquette on Lake Superior, to the Wisconsin State 
line at or near the mouth of the Menomonee river, for the 
benefit and use of the Chicago and North-western Railway 
Company, a corporation of the States of Michigan, Illinois, 
and Wisconsin ; and from Marquette to Ontonagon, for the 
use and benefit of the Marquette and Ontonagon Railroad 
Company, a corporation of the State of Michigan ; and for 
twenty miles westerly from Marquette, of the Bay de Noquet 
and Marquette railroad, for the benefit and use of the Bay de 
Noquet and Marquette Railroad Company, four additional 
alternate sections of land, per mile, to that already granted." 
The same act extended the time for the completion of the 
road from Marquette to the mouth of the Menomonee river, 
and thence to Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin, five years 
from June 3rd, 1866. 



440 UPPER MISSISSIPPI 

To the State of Wisconsin, June 3rd, 1856, (1,) "from 
Madison, or Columbus, by the way of Portage City to St. 
Croix river or lake, between townships twenty-five and 
thirty-one, and from thence to the west end of Lake 
Superior, and to Bayfield ; and, (2,) from Fond du Lac, on 
Lake Winnebago, northerly to the State line." 

By the act of May 5th, 1864, further grants to Wisconsin 
were made as follows: (1,) "From a point on the St. 
Croix river or lake, between townships twenty-five and 
thirty-one, to the west end of Lake Superior, and from some 
point on the line of said railroad, to be selected by said 
State, to Bayfield, every alternate section of public land 
designated by odd numbers, for ten sections in width, on 
each side of said road, deducting any and all lands that 
may have been granted to the State of Wisconsin by the 
act of Congress of June 3rd, 1856; (2,) from the town of 
Tomah to St. Croix river or lake, between townships twenty- 
five and thirty-one," the same number of sections with like 
conditions as the above. The two foregoing grants only 
covered that portion of the grant of 1856 extending from 
Tomah to Lake Superior, and was supplementary thereto, 
leaving the balance of the grant of 1856, from Tomah to 
Madison, to still rest on the law of 1856. (3,) "From 
Portage City, Berlin, Doty's island, or Fond du Lac, as said 
State may determine, in a no'rth-western direction to Bay- 
field, and thence to Superior, on Lake Superior," giving the 
odd numbered alternate sections for ten miles on each side 
of the road. 

To the State of Minnesota, March 3rd, 1857, (1,) "from 
Stillwater, by way of St. Paul and St. Anthony, to a point 
between the foot of Big Stone lake and the mouth of Sioux 
Wood river, with a branch, via St. Cloud and Crow Wing, 
to the navigable waters of the Red river of the north, at 
such point as the legislature of said territory may determine ; 
(2,) from St, Paul and from St. Anthony, via Minneapolis, 
to a convenient point of junction west of the Mississippi, to 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 441 

the southern boundary of the territory in the direction of 
the mouth of the Big Sioux river, with a branch, via Fari- 
bault, to the north line of the State of Iowa, west of range 
sixteen; (3,) from Winona, via Saint Peters, to a point on 
the Big Sioux river, south of the forty-fifth parallel of north 
latitude; (4,) also from La Crescent, via Target Lake, up 
the valley of Root river to a point of junction with the last 
mentioned road, east of range seventeen." By the act of 
July 12th, 1862, the first route mentioned above was slightly 
modified, and an additional branch granted from said line, 
(5>) "from between the Falls of St. Anthony and Crow 
Wing, and extending in a north-easterly direction to Lake 
Superior." 

To the State of Kansas, March 3rd, 1863, (1,) " from the 
city of Leavenworth, by the way of the town of Lawrence, 
and via the Ohio City crossing of the Osage river, to the 
southern line of the State, in the direction of Galveston bay, 
in Texas, with a branch from Lawrence, by the valley of 
the Wakarusa river, to the point on the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe railroad, where said road intersects the Neosho 
river; (2,) from the city of Atchison, via Topeka, the 
capital of said State, to the western line of the State, in the 
direction of Fort Union and Santa Fe, New Mexico, with 
a branch from where this last-named road crosses the 
Neosho, dowm said Neosho valley to the point where the 
said first-named road entered the said Neosho valley." 

By the act of July 1st, 1864, another route was granted, 
" from Emporia, via Council Grove, to a point near Fort 
Riley, on the branch Union Pacific Railroad;" and the 
grant in the act of 1863, " from Lawrence, by the valley of 
the Wakarusa river, to a point on the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe Railroad w r here said road intersects the Neosho 
river, shall be so changed as to run from Lawrence to 
Emporia." 

The great scheme for a railroad to the Pacific ocean was 
advocated by Mr. Whitney and others, long before such a 
28* 



442 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

measure had become practicable by the advancement of 
civilization ; but the agitation of the subject had prepared 
the public mind for the early adoption of the enterprise, 
and Congress, March 3rd, 1853, appropriated $150,000 to 
the Secretary of War, and authorized him " to employ such 
portion of the corps of topographical engineers, and such 
other persons as he may deem necessary, to make such 
explorations and surveys as he may deem advisable, to 
ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a 
railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean." 
Further appropriations were made of $190,000 for the same 
purpose. 

Under this act, the Secretary of War organized several 
corps for the survey of different routes. The northern route, 
near the 47° of north latitude, was put under the superin- 
tendence of Governor Isaac J. Stevens, who passed up the 
Mississippi on the steamer "Nominee," May 27th, 1853, 
and immediately commenced operations at St. Paul. 
Brevet-Captain George B. McClellan (late Major-General) 
w r as put in charge of a similar corps at Puget Sound, on the 
Pacific, to meet Governor Stevens. Similar parties were 
organized to survey near the 35°, 38°, and 41° parallels of 
north latitude, while all previous surveys by Colonel 
Fremont and others, were brought in requisition for the 
information they contained. The final result of these sur- 
veys, with extensive maps, illustrations, and geographical 
and scientific discoveries, were published in 1861, in thirteen 
quarto volumes, by government, at a large expense. 

The scheme was then taken up by Congress, and, on the 
1st day of July, 1862, the act was approved by the Presi- 
dent, organizing " The Union Pacific Railroad Company," 
which was fully " empowered to lay out, locate, construct, 
furnish, maintain and enjoy a continuous railroad and tele- 
graph, with the appurtenances, from a point on the one 
hundredth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, 
between the south margin of the valley of the Republican 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 443 

river and the north margin of the valley of the Platte river, 
in the territory of Nebraska, to the western boundary of 
Nevada territory," with a branch to the mouth of the 
Kansas river, and another to Omaha. The capital stock 
was put at 100,000 shares, of $1,000 each, and the company 
received a grant of five alternate odd numbered sections on 
each side of the road, and a loan of the bonds of the United 
States at the rate of $16,000 per mile, which bonds were to 
constitute the first mortgage on the road. 

By the act of July 2nd, 1864, the shares were reduced to 
$100 each, and the capital stock was put at 1,000,000 shares, 
and some other changes made in the original charter for 
the road. 

The Union Pacific Railroad Company was duly organized, 
and the road located and put under contract, and 305 miles 
were completed west of Omaha, January 1st, 1867, and 517 
miles in September, the same year, with a fair prospect of 
completing the balance to California in 1870; a distance of 
nearly 1,565 miles to the west line of Nevada, and, adding 
the California branch, 1,900 miles to the Pacific. The 
general route from Omaha is up the North Platte river, thence 
to the Great Salt lake, and, by the way of Humboldt river, 
to connect with the Central Pacific road in California, which 
had 150 miles of the western division from Sacramento 
completed in September, 1867, which had pierced the 
Sierra Nevada mountains. The Kansas branch, called the 
eastern division, had about 300 miles completed in Septem- 
ber, 1867, and a contract for 95 miles more, to be com- 
pleted December 31st of the same year. The eastern divi- 
sion is pointing for Denver City, by the Smoky Fork route. 

The other roads west of the Mississippi have been making 
commendable efforts to connect with the Omaha and Kansas 
branches; and the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad 
finally reached Council Bluffs, and brought themselves in 
connection at Omaha, a distance from Chicago of 492 miles, 
January 22nd, 1867. 



444 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



The " Northern Pacific Railroad Company" was chartered 
by Congress, July 2nd, 1864, and were "empowered to lay 
out, locate, construct, furnish, maintain aud enjoy a con- 
tinuous railroad and telegraph line, with the appurtenances, 
namely : beginning at a point on Lake Superior, in the 
State of Minnesota or Wisconsin ; thence westerly by the 
most eligible railroad route, as shall be determined by said 
company, within the territory of the United States, on a 
line north of the forty-fifth degree of latitude, to some point 
on Puget's Sound, with a branch, via the valley of the 
Columbia river, to a point at or near Portland, in the State 
of Oregon, leaving the main trunk line at the most suitable 
place, not more than three hundred miles from its western 
terminus." 

The capital stock of the company was put at 1,000,000 
of shares, of $100 each, and the company received a grant 
of twenty of the odd numbered alternate sections per mile 
on each side of said railroad where it passes through the 
territories, and only ten sections per mile each side where 
it passes through States. The company were required to 
commence the work in two years from the date of the 
charter, and after the second year build fifty miles a year 
of the road, and complete the whole by July 4th, 1876. 

The following will show the number of miles of railroads 
in operation at the periods named, in the northwest : 

Table of Railroads. 



Ohio - 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Michigan - 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

Missouri 

Minnesota 

Kansas 

Nebraska 



1850. 


1855. 


575 


2,453 


228 


1,406 


no 


887 


342 


474 


20 


187 




68 




139 



I860. 


1S6T. 


2,990 




2,125 




2,868 




799 


919 


923 


1,136 


680 


1,136 


817 


962 




332 




357 




5i7 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 445 

By reference to the foregoing table, it will be observed 
that Iowa and Missouri had no railroads in 1850, and that 
Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska had none until after 1860, 
the most of which were built after the close of the war in 
1865. Some progress has been made since 1860 in Ohio, 
Indiana, and Illinois, but the writer has not the data to put 
in the table. In 1867, roads were being extended in all the 
north-western States; but with the greatest rapidity in 
Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, and in a short 
period of time several routes will be completed to the 
Pacific ocean. 

The magnetic telegraph has been of great importance to 
the North-west, by bringing this distant region within speak- 
ing distance of the Atlantic cities. Although the first line 
of telegraph was only put in operation between Washington 
and Baltimore in May, 1841, yet in about four years it had 
reached Milwaukee, St. Louis, and other prominent cities in 
the North-west. It was subsequently extended north-west 
from Milwaukee, and reached La Crosse in October, 1858, 
and St. Paul, August 29th, 1860. The telegraph has been 
extended on the line of every railroad, and to all the princi- 
pal villages in the North-west ; and so perfect is its arrange- 
ments, that the President's messages reach the extreme 
boundaries of the American Union in a few minutes after 
the last words are pronounced at Washington. 

By the act of Congress passed June 16th, 1860, the 
Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to advertise for 
proposals " for the use by the government of a line or lines 
of magnetic telegraph, to be constructed within two years 
from the 31st day of July, 1860, from some point or points 
on the west line of the State of Missouri to the city of San 
Francisco, for a period of ten years," and " provided such 
proffer does not require a larger amount per year from the 
United States than $40,000." Under this encouragement, 
the line was completed to San Francisco, October 22nd, 
1861. 



446 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

By the act of July 1st, 1862, the Pacific Telegraph Com- 
pany, the Overland Telegraph Company, and the California 
State Telegraph Company, were authorized to make 
arrangements with the Union Pacific Railroad Company, 
to remove said telegraph lines on to the route of the said 
railroad as fast as the road was completed. 

By the act of Congress of July 1st, 1864, Perry Mac- 
Donough Collins, of California, and his associates, were 
authorized to construct branches from the line of the Pacific 
telegraph through any of the territories of the United States 
to British America. Collins and Company had previously 
obtained grants from the Russian and British governments 
to build a telegraph line from the mouth of Amoor river, in 
Asia, via Behring's Straits, to the United States. This 
enterprise has been prosecuted with great labor and cost, 
and in December, 1866, eight hundred and fifty miles had 
been put in operation north of Westminster, British 
Columbia, and the balance of the material delivered at con- 
venient points to Behring's Straits and the sub-marine cable 
at Victoria, Vancouver island, when the company suspended 
operations in January, 1867. 

The limits of this work will not allow us to give the 
various agricultural statistics of the North-west, but we take 
the liberty to give a table of the productions of wheat and 
corn, as given by the United States census of 1850 and 
1860. 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 447 

Production of Wheat and Com in the North-ivest. 





WHEAT. 


CORN. 




1849. 


1859. 


1849. 


1859. 


Dakota 


Bushels. 

9,4H,575 
6,214,458 
1,530,581 

4,925,889. 

1,401 

2,981,652 

H'487,35i 
4,286,131 


Bushels. 

945 

24,159,500 j 
15,219,120 

8,433,215 1 
168,527 1 

8,313,185 

2,195,812 ! 

4,227,586 

72,268 

H,532,57o 

15,812,625 


Bushels. 

57,646,984 

52,964,363 

8,656,799 

5,641,420 

16,725 
36,214,537 

59,078,695 
1,988,979 

222,208,502 


Bushels. 

20,296 

115,296,779 

69.641,591 

41,116,994 

5,678,834 
12,152,110 

2,987,570 
72,892,157 

1,846.785 
70,637,140 

7,565,290 




Indiana 


Iowa 


Michigan 

Minnesota 

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Ohio 

Wisconsin 


Total 


43,832,038 


93,134,353 


399,935,546 



By an examination of the same census reports, it will be 
observed that all the States and territories in the United 
States, produced, in 1849: wheat, 100,485,944 bushels, and 
in 1859, 171,183,381 bushels; of corn, in 1849, 592,071,104 
bushels, and in 1859, 830,451,707 bushels. 

By comparing these statistics, it will be seen that in 
1849 the north-western States and territories of Dakota and 
Nebraska, produced nearly forty-four per cent, of all the 
wheat and corn in the United States and territories, and in 
1859, nearly sixty per cent, of the wheat, and nearly forty- 
seven per cent, of the corn. 

In the subsequent years the productions of the North-west 
in wheat and corn has largely increased, notwithstanding 
the war of the great rebellion ; and according to the report 
of the Commissioner of Agriculture, there were raised in 
1864, in the north-western States, including Nebraska terri- 
tory, 123,128,416 bushels of wheat, and 404,602,276 bushels 
of corn. 

While wheat and corn are regarded as the staple produc- 



448 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

tions, yet the North-west exports a large surplus of rye, 
barley, oats, whisky, wool, horses, fat cattle, hogs, and other 
productions of a temperate climate. Some idea of this 
surplus may be gathered from the tables made up by the 
Buffalo Board of Trade, from which it appears that there 
were shipped to an eastern market, from the North-west, in 
1860, 4,106,05V barrels of flour, 32,334,391 bushels of wheat, 
18,075,778 bushels of corn, and 7,712,032 bushels of other 
grain. This statement does not include Missouri, Kansas, 
nor Nebraska, nor the shipments sent South. In 1862, and 
after the commencement of the war, the same authority 
gives the eastern shipments as 8,359,910 barrels of flour, 
50,609,130 bushels of wheat, 32,985,923 bushels of corn, and 
10,844,939 bushels of other grain. These amounts of course 
did not include the large shipments for the support of the 
vast armies of the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and of the 
Mississippi. 

According to the same authority, there were received in 
1862, at Buffalo, from the North-west : 171,552 barrels of 
pork, 123,301 barrels of beef, 25,687,657 pounds of bacon, 
22,471,204 pounds of lard, 113,253 barrels of whisky, 
30,410,252 of staves, 125,289,971 feet of lumber, 129,433 
cattle, 524,916 hogs, 105,671 sheep, 4,119,173 pounds of 
butter, 1,313,030 pounds of cheese, 36,812 bushels of flax 
seed, 268,685 hides, 8,329,811 pounds of iron, 8,535,992 
pounds of lead, 2,624,932 bushels of oats, 1,075,650 pounds 
of oil-cake, 4,363,884 pounds of tallow, 51,278 bushels of 
timothy seed, 5,047 bushels of clover seed, and vast quan- 
tities of other materials. These items do not include large 
quantities of the surplus productions sent to an eastern 
market by railroads, and by the Welland canal ; but these 
show that the productions of the North-west are not confined 
to wheat and corn. 

Manufactures are also receiving considerable attention 
in the North-west. Large quantities of agricultural imple- 
ments, pig iron, bar and rolled iron, steam engines, stoves, 



CANALS, RAILROADS, TELEGRAPH LINES, ETC. 449 

lead, copper, cloths, boots and shoes, and other articles, are 
being manufactured. Cotton and woolen factories have 
been established, to a limited extent, in most of the States, 
and the public attention is waking up to the importance of 
their increase. 



CONCLUSION. 

It has been the writer's endeavor, in this work, to collect 
and present to the reader those leading facts in the history 
of the North-west, which are necessary to enable the well- 
informed citizen to speak intelligently on the growth and 
prosperity of his country, leaving the more detailed account 
to be gathered from the thousands of original documents. 
This subject is doubly interesting to the statesman and 
philosopher, owing to the wonderful rapidity of the settle- 
ment of the country after the close of the war of 1812, 
being unparalleled, it is believed, in the history of the 
world. It demonstrates, by facts, many of the peculiarities 
of human nature, and shows, on an extensive scale, the 
workings of Divine Providence. Its growth has not been 
an ephemeral growth, for the institutions have been laid on 
broad and deep foundations, and the superstructure is of 
imperishable materials. Neither has the work been planned 
and executed under the compressing power of bigotry, 
superstition, or the theories of infidelity ; but human nature 
and Christianity have been allowed to expand themselves 
to their fullest extent, and spread their more generally 
approved qualities and principles over the primeval soil. 
Hence common schools and colleges are endowed in perpe- 
tuity, religion has been allowed its greatest latitude, suffrage 
is not even limited to the white race, while agriculture, 
manufactures, internal improvements, and commerce, have 
no limitation nor circumscribed bounds. 

But the North-west is yet only partially developed. Large 
29 



450 UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

quantities of land still exists in the older States in a state of 
nature, being owned by speculators ; and in the newer States 
there are vast quantities of land that are yet in the hands 
of government, awaiting the arrival of emigrants to occupy 
it. When all this unoccupied land is converted into culti- 
vated fields, it must necessarily contribute largely to the 
commerce of the country. 

The question is here naturally suggested, will this pros- 
perity be perpetual? Will not the North-west become 
over-jealous of their rights, and reenact the southern rebel- 
lion ? We reply, that no embryo element of discord and 
disaffection to the Union has yet shown itself in any part of 
the country. Of course its great danger will be from the 
demagogues, common to all free countries, who seek to 
alarm the people with imaginary dangers, for the purpose 
of getting themselves elected to office. These imaginary 
dangers are often the most potent to drive an honest people 
into a murderous rebellion. Local jealousies are often made 
the weapons of the demagogues to cajole the people to 
gratify their ambitious designs. Bigotry in religion, in the 
old days of superstition, was often made the foundation of 
rebellion ; but the toleration allowed by the constitution of 
our Union will probably preserve us from any such rebel- 
lion while that instrument is suffered to stand. A general 
system of education has been regarded by many as the 
most plausible theory to establish a proper political conser- 
vatism, but that theory has never been fully successful. 
Wars will probably always continue so long as our human 
depravity exists, and no protection has yet been discovered 
by man, except the arm of the Almighty. 



INDEX 



A. 

Agricultural productions, 447-448. 
Algonquin Confederacy, 42-43. 
Allouez, Rev. Claude, 123-125, 131, 344. 
Akansea; see Quapaws, 201. 
Assiniboins, 59, 224. 



B. 



Braddock's defeat, 71. 

Brebeuf, Rev. John De, 116,120, 131, 

Brandy War, 126-130. 

Brunson, Rev. Alfred, 143, 144. 

Brothertowns, 170. 



Canals, 430. 

Completed in New York, 433. 

" Pennsylvania, 434. 

" Maryland, 434. 

Ohio, 435. 

" Indiana, 435. 

" Illinois, 436. 

" Michigan, 436. 

" Wisconsin, 436. 

Cayugas; see Iroquois, 159. 

Catholic Missions, 114-134- 161, 163, 176, 198, 203, 208, 290, 312, 
Religious bigotry and persecutions, 114. 
First mission in Canada, 115. 
First mission to the Hurons, 115, 116. 
Destroyed by the Iroquois war, 120. 
Mission to Lake Superior, 121, 123, 124. 
Mission to Wisconsin, 123, 124. 
Mission to Illinois, 125, 126, 132. 
List of missionaries, 131, 132. 
Struggles against the sale of brandy, 126, 130. 



454 INDEX. 

Champlain's 150 years' war, 43-45- 
Chicago, 125, 334. 4 2 9> 43°- 
Chippeways, 265, 290. 

Missions among, 143-145* H9- 
Cincinnati organized, 325. 
Clarke, Colonel G. R., captures Illinois, 9 7- 
Colorado Territory, 384. 
Conclusion, 449- , A AJkH 

Corn raised in 1849, l8 59> l86 4' 447- 

D. 

Dakotas' attacked by the Christinaux, 52. 

War with Sacs and Foxes, 56. 

War with the Chippeways, 59. 

Bands of, in 1867, 226. 
Dakota Territory, 384-386. 
De Carry, chiefs, 81, 82, 189. 
Delawares, 159, 166-169. 

•War against the Iroquois, 49, 5°- 

Made squaws by treaty, 50. 

Massacre of Christians, 137, I3»- 

Sickson^Colonel Robert, British Agent, io 7 . 

££^«3£$E Indians under Black Hawk, «*. 
Defeats Major Holmes at M^ 1 ^' 1 "' 
Sends expedition to Prairie Du Chien, in* 

Dieskaw, Baron De, 72. 

E. 

Education and schools. 
Ohio, 325. 
Indiana, 328. 
Illinois, 334- 
Michigan, 339. 
Wisconsin, 362-365. 
Missouri, 370, 371. 
Iowa, 372. 

Minnesota, 377, 37 s - 
Kansas, 381. 
Nebraska, 382. _ 
Enelish attack St. Louis, 368, 369. 
Eries, or Kah-kwah, exterminated, 46-49- 

F. 

Flint Bluffs, 24. ... 
Floods of the Mississippi, 392. 
Floods of the Ohio river, 397, 39 b - 
Foxes : see Sacs and Foxes, 291-306. 



INDEX. 



Fort Chartres, 90, 97, 332, 333. 

Fort William Henry Massacre, 76. 

French traders, 82. 

French and Indian war with English, 68, 79. 

Change of policy with Indians, 68. 

Defeat of General Braddock, 71. 

Defeat of Baron De Dieskaw, 72. 

War declared against England, 73. 

Montcalm captures Fort William Henry, 74, 76. 

Fort Niagara captured by English, 78, 79 

Canada surrendered to English, 79. 

Disasters of the war to the French, 81, 82. 

English alliance with Indians, 79, 80. 

G. 

Galena and Minnesota Packet Company, 403. 

Galesville, 14, 34. 

Green Bay, 67, 341, 345"353> 354- 

H. 

Hennepin, Rev. Father, 224. 

Henry Clay, first steamer on Lake Michigan, 429. 

Hurons, 159, 164-166. 



Illinois, 330-337- 

Illinois Confederacy, 172. 

Indian Confederacies by languages, 42. 

Indian warfare, 112, 113. 

Indian tribes in 1866, 3i5-3 l8 - 

Indiana, 327-330. 

Iowa, 372-373- 

Iowas, 199-201. 

Iroquois, 159-164. 

War with the French commenced, 43-45. 

War against the Hurons, 44-46. 

War against the Eries, or Kah-kwah, 46. 

War against the Illinois, 49, 53, 54. 

War against the Delawares and Mohegans, 49-50. 

War continued againt the French, 50, 55, 56. 

Treachery of the French, 55. 

Massacre of French at La Chine, 56. 

Treaty of peace in 1700, 57. 

Service in French war, 72, 78. 

Services in the Revolution, 93-98. 



455 



456 LNDEX. 

J- 

Jogues, Rev. Isaac, 119, 120. 
Johnson, Sir William, 79. 

Made Indian Agent by English, 79. 

Remonstrates against abuse of Indians, 80. 

Defeats Baron De Dieskaw, 72. 

Captures Fort Niagara, 78. 

Makes peace with Pontiac, 88-90. 

Complains of the pioneers, 91. 

Died in 1774, 93. 
Johnson, Guy, appointed Indian Agent, 93. 

Arms the Indians against the Americans, 94. 

Plans the Wyoming massacre, 96. 

His " petite guerre " warfare, 98. 

Defeated by General Sullivan, 97. 
Jollyet, 124. 

K. 

Kansas State, 378, 381. 

Kansas, 182, 212-217. 

Kaokias, 172, 173. 

Kaskaskias, 172, 173, 174. 

Kaws : see Kansas, 212. 

Kickapoos, 172, 175, 176, 177. 

Kieft's, Governor, massacre of Indians, 170. 

King Phillips' war, 170. 



La Salle, 126, 424. 

Lakes, Great, and their navigation, 415. 

Physical character, 415. 

Commerce of the lakes, 416, 421. 

First sail vessel, the " Griffin," 423. 

Steam navigation, 426. 
La Crosse, 15. 

Lappam, LL.D., Increase A., 15. 
La Point, 345. 

Langlade, Lieutenant Charles De, 82, 97. 
Lead discoveries, 356, 357. 
Lenapees : see Delawares, 166. 
Little Turtle's Confederacy, 98. 

A scheme of the British, 98. 

They defeat General St. Clair, 99. 

Are defeated by General Wayne, 101. 

Conclude a peace with United States, 102, 105. 
Logan's revenge and speech, 92, 93. 



INDEX. 45' 



M. 



Mackinaw Island, 46, 124, 337, 421. 

Mandans, 182, 221-223. 

Marquette, James, 123-125, 131. 

Mascotens, 172, 175, 176. 

Marietta settled, 325. 

Menard, Rev. Rene, 121, 122, 165, 343. 

Methodists, 139. 

Menominies, 182, 194 — 199, 171. 

Miamies, 172, 175, 176, 177. 

Michigamias, 172, 173. 

Michigan, 337-340. 

Milwaukee, 359, 361. 

Milwaukee wheat shipments, 432. 

Minnesota, 373-378. 

Missourias, 1S2, 209-212. 

Missions, 114, 135. 

Missouri, 367-371. 

Missouri Compromise, 370, 380. 

Mississippi and its navigation, 3S8. 

First discovery of the river, 388-391. 

Origin of its name, 391. 

Physical character, 392-394. 

Floods of the river. 394-396. 

Ohio river, 396-398. 

Missouri river, 398-399. 

Navigation of the river, 399, 400. 

Steam navigation, 400-408. 

Mississippi valley, 409-411. 

Navigation of the river free, 411, 413. 

Navigation to he improved, 413, 414. 
Missions to Indians, 114. 
Mohawks : see Iroquois, 159. 

Mohegans, 159. 169-171. 
Morand, Captain, 66, 67. 
Montana Territory, 3S6-3S7. 
Mound-Builders, 11-40. 

Extent of Territory, 12. 

Intellectual capacity, 13. 

Population and extent of Avorks, 14-18. 

Agriculture and Commerce, 17-20. 

Manufactures and Science, 21-24. 

Religion, 21-31. 

Effigies of animals, 31-35. 

Speculations of Dr. Morton, 36. 

Traditions of Indians, 37. 

Concluding speculations, 39-40. 
Munsees, 171. 
Musquakies : see Sacs and Foxes, 291. 



29* 



458 INDEX. 

N. 

Nadouessioux : see Dakota, 224. 

Nebraska, 381-3S3. 

Newspapers in States, 326, 330, 337. 340. 365, 366, 371, 372, 378, 3S1 

Niagara captured, 78, 79. 

Nicolet, Sieur Jean, 182, 1S4. 389. 

Nicolet and Fremont, 392, 398. 

Noquets, 194. 

Nomenee packet, 404. 

North-western Packet Company, 405. 

North-western Union Packet Company, 407. 

O. 

O-chunk-o-raws : see Winnebagoes. 182. 

Ohio, 319-327. 

Ojibway Confederacy, 265-290. 

Omahas, 182, 217-219. 

Ongwe-honwe : see Iroquois. 159. 

Oneidas : see Iroquois, 159, 162. 

Onondagas : see Iroquois, 159. 

Osages, 182, 203-208. 

Ottoes, 182, 209-212. 

Outagamies : see Sacs and Foxes, 291. 

P. 

Peorias, 172, 173, 174. 

Pequod war, 170. 

Pontiac war, 85-90. 

Pontiac assassinated, 90. 

Poncas, 182, 219-221. 

Population of Indian Tribes in 1S66, 315-318. 

Population of States, 325, 329, 333, 340, 362, 371, 372. 377, 3S7, 329. 

Potowatomies, 306-314. 

Prairie Du Chien, in, 20, 346-352. 

Propeller " Hercules " built, 429. 

Propellers in Milwaukee lines, 431, 432. 

Protestant missions, 135-15S. 

Eliot, of Massachusetts, 135. 

Brainard, 136. 

Moravian, 136-138. 

Methodist, 139-149, 162. 163, 171, 1S0, 2S8, 306. 

Friends, 180, 216. 

American Board, 149-151, 163. 253, 263, 2S9. 

Presbyterian Board, 151, 211. 218. 

Cumberland Presbyterian. 151. 

American Baptist, 152. 153. 163, 169. 17S, 313. 

Protestant Episcopal, 153. 263. 

American M. Association, 153. 

Struggles against whisky-sellers, 154-158. 



INDEX. 459 



Quapaws, 201-203. 

R. 

Railroads, 436. 

Land grants to, by Congress, 436-441. 

Pacific Railroad, survey of, 441-442. 

Union Pacific Railroad Company organized, 442, 443. 

Northern Pacific Railroad Company chartered, 443-444. 

Miles completed in North-west, 444. 



Sacs and Foxes, 291-306. 

War against the Sioux, 56. 

Massacre by the French at Detroit, 57-63. 

Make peace with the Sioux, 59. 

War against the Chippeways, 59. 

War of the French against, 63-67. 
Saulteurs : see Ojibways, 265. 
Senecas : see Iroquois, 159, 166. 
Shawnees. 17S, 179, 1S0. 

Attacked by the Iroquois, 49. 

Settle near the Iroquois, 168. 
Shipping on the lakes in 1858, i860, 1862, 430. 
Shipping built in 1S64, 431. 
Shipping of Milwaukee in 1862, 1863, 432. 
Sioux : see Dakota, 224-264. 
Sioux massacre, 245-260. 
Steamers on upper lakes to 1843, 4 2 7- 
St. Clair, General Arthur, 99-101. 
St. Louis settled, 368. 

St. Regis, 161. 
St. Tammany, 167. 
Stockbridges, 170. 
St. Paul, 373, 374, 40S. 



T. 

Tamarois, 172. 

Tecumseh and the Prophet, 106. 

Make a new religion, 106. 

Are defeated at Tippecanoe, 106, 107. 

Tecumseh killed, 10S. 

Indians sue for peace, 10S. 
Telegraph, 445, 446. 
Tonnage of the upper lakes, 429. 
Tuscaroras, 159, 160. 



460 INDEX. 



W. 

Walk-in-the- Water, first, steamer on lake, 427. 

Wa-saw-sees : see Osages, 203. 

Wheat, amount raised in 1849-1864, 447. 

Whisky war, 154, 158. 

Williams, Rev. Eleazer, 162. 

Winnebagoes, 182-193. 

Wisconsin, 341-366. 

Wjandots : see Hurons, 164-166. 

Wyoming massacre, 96. 



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